Chuck vs the Intersect Reboot
by niallmcc
Summary: NOW COMPLETE. Bartowski, stuck in a low-end retail job at the local Buymore, receives a strange email from his best friend Bryce Larkin. When he opens it, a vast array of government secrets, called The Intersect, gets downloaded into his unsuspecting brain, turning him into a walking und familiar? A retelling of Chuck if it was written today as opposed to 6 years ago.
1. Chapter 1

_This is an idea that pleaded for release while I was beginning work on my other current fanfic Sarah vs. the Dark Passenger. So to get it out of my system, I've composed the first chapter and posted today. Basically the concept is what if Chuck received the Intersect today instead of 6 years ago. I am using a lot of the same characters and events, but putting my own spin on them._

_Nevertheless, I do not own Chuck or its characters and never will._

Chapter 1

_Date: 20/09/2013_

_LOCATION: ROOF OF DIRECTORATE OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE, WASHINGTON D.C._

"This had better be good Larkin", snarled the voice from the other end of the phone.

"Sir, I have the Intersect download and uploaded the virus to all the servers", wheezed Bryce Larkin.

"And that, Schnook, is the only reason I am not putting your burn notice in effect for disturbing the presentation of my latest operating system. Yet."

Larkin cringed at the other end. "Director, I need extraction. Casey winged me. I'm stuck on the roof. You need to send Frost. Or even Leader. I'm not going to make it otherwise".

"Frost is on assignment in Russia. Leader is cleaning up after your Project Fulcrum fiasco." The Directors fingers danced over his handheld. "I don't see an upload in progress here Larkin. Tell me I didn't walk out in the middle of my own presentation to take this call, just because you're stuck on a roof and can't figure out how to send a file."

"How do I know I can trust you" blurted Larkin, regretting it the instant he asked. Despite everything he had just gone through in the last few minutes, he felt himself beginning to sweat again. He cringed as time seemed to stand still around him.

"Check your phone Agent Omaha."

Despite the sounds at the door behind him that suggested the NSA were going to be on him any second now, Bryce Larkin pulled his phone from his ear. There was a picture of a tousled haired man in a Buy More uniform with a crosshairs symbol super-imposed over his smiling face.

"I take it even a Connecticut schnook like you knows the deal Larkin. Get on with it, I have a sold out conference hall of nerds to charm. Start the upload." He disconnected the call without waiting for a reply.

"Now 'Director', that was just rude," Bryce replied. But the picture he was sent gave him an idea. Scrolling desperately through his contacts list, he found the name he was looking for, typed a short message and attached the file. As he clicked on send, he whispered, "I'm so sorry Chuck." He dropped the phone to the gravel under his feet and fired a full magazine of bullets into it as the door leading to the roof burst open behind him.

He instinctively turned and swung his gun arm up. Before Bryce realised it was a wasted exercise, he was shot in his already wounded shoulder. "Too late Casey", he managed to squeeze out as he collapsed to his knees. He instinctively raised his gun again at the agent behind before that same agent put a second bullet through his head.

"You moron Shaw, I had him!" snarled Casey.

"Sure you did NSA. Like you had him when he kicked the ass of your team in the Intersect Room" sneered Daniel Shaw.

"He was our only link to the Ring numbnuts! What the hell is the matter with you!? His gun was empty."

"I've carried out our orders", retorted Shaw. "Problem, Agent Casey?"

Casey growled in frustration. Shaw had been off since the death of his wife 6 months ago, a fellow CIA agent on a mission that went wrong in Paris based on the chatter going around intelligence circles. He had been assigned to oversee the security on the Intersect system based in the DNI headquarters along with Casey. Casey had never taken to him since Shaw had made that comment about them being two fellow burn outs on their introduction at a meeting with the heads of the NSA and CIA. Apart from that, he had assumed he was a professional. Or at least as professional as the CIA could be, which wasn't saying much as far as Casey was concerned.

"We better call this in. This is a complete mess Shaw, thanks to you".

"No need Major, we're already here."

Shaw and Casey turned to be greeted by the sight of a very pissed off looking General Diane Beckman of the NSA and Director Roan Montgomery of the CIA. Casey immediately snapped to attention while Shaw holstered his gun and shoved his hands in his pockets as if he didn't have a care in the world.

~oOo~

_SAME TIME CASA BARTOWSKI/WOODCOMB_

"Look Chuck, all I'm saying is even though we may ask, no woman really wants to hear about an old girlfriend. It's depressing, okay? Stanford was five years ago. You need to move on. It's time—", began Ellie.

"Fine Ellie, I'll get over Jill tomorrow".

"And don't even start us on your buddy Bryce not showing up for the wedding of Ellie and Captain Awesome," interjected Morgan Grimes. This got him the reward of a double barrelled glare from the Bartowski siblings.

"Pedal safe Morgan", said Chuck through gritted teeth.

"You know, I think I'm starting to feel the effects of the spiked punch, which I didn't do by the way", he said hurriedly. "I'll see you tomorrow Chuck" he called out while just missing staggering into the fountain behind him.

As soon as he was gone, Chuck closed the front door, ducked past his sister and went straight to his room at the end of the hall. As he made sure the Morgan door was locked securely, he felt his stomach begin to revolt at the cocktail of alcohol he had poured into himself earlier.

"Chuck, you okay?" came his sister's voice who had followed him into the room.

"I'm fine Ellie. Just a little too much to drink."

"I'm going to get you some aspirin…"

"Ellie, I said I'm fine. No need to go all crazy doctor sis on me", replied Chuck a little more harshly than he intended. "Ellie, I'm sorry. I know you meant well. Forgive me", he said with what he hoped was his most apologetic tone and expression. He simply looked and sounded even more drunk. "Don't you have a honeymoon to go on?" he tried again. Perhaps not the best approach either, he realised.

"You've a funny way of showing appreciation. When Devon and I come back in two weeks, I want you gone from our apartment. If you can't get your life together at this stage after 5 years"… she said throwing up her hands, turning on her heels and slamming his bedroom door.

That went well, he thought. He threw himself down at the end of the bed and regretted it immediately as his stomach began to protest at the sudden movement. He tried a few deep breaths which temporarily cleared his head enough to notice he now was sitting on his Burton Express laptop. He opened it up, unlocked the screen saver and found he had one email. The subject line read

_What are the specs for the team surrounding the Stanford compound?_

Despite himself, Chuck smiled. Bryce was his Call of Duty partner back in the day. Their fraternity had never been defeated. He also remembered how Bryce was the only one at Stanford who believed him when he was expelled for supposedly hacking into Professor Flemings files and forwarding the test results of his Subliminal Imaging course to all the participants. They had kept in touch over the years, despite Bryce's job in merchant banking which involved a lot of travel.

The attachment looked innocent enough if a little big, so he clicked on it. An image of a rose appeared on the screen which suddenly broke up into a series of smaller images, then smaller images again within those at ever increasing speed. Chuck frowned. Despite his somewhat less than sober state, a memory of when he was about eight years old surfaced.

He was in his father's home office while Stephen Bartowski was helping Ellie repair a bracelet of his mother's that he'd broken. He knew he wasn't supposed to be there. But his father's disappointment in him and Ellie's fury hadn't given him many options. The office was full of computers. He had tapped on the keyboard of one of them to see the teaching software that his father said he was working on for the government. The last thing he remembered before he found his extremely agitated father shaking his shoulder, was a series of flashing images that he could not take his eyes off. He had no idea how long it lasted. His father had seemed strangely proud of him though instead of annoyed.

Right now, he was looking at the same sort of sequence unfolding on the screen in front of him. The images came faster and faster until they suddenly stopped. He fell backwards on the bed, his legs hanging over the end. The laptop slipped out his hand as it became too hot to hold, but at this stage Chuck was already losing consciousness. He did not notice it beginning to smoke or hear the screen crack shortly afterwards.

_Directorate of National Intelligence, Washington D.C. 1 hour later_

"I don't like it any more than you do Roan, but we have our orders. I'm putting Casey in charge of the investigation."

"Agent Frankenstein? You have got to be kidding me Diane."

"Sitting right here Director", grunted Casey. "May I remind you it was your agent who shot Larkin dead before he could be questioned?"

"That's enough Major Casey", snapped Beckman

"Agent Shaw has been suspended, pending further investigation into his actions", interjected Montgomery. "Based on the trace signature we were able to get from Larkin's damaged device, he sent the Intersect data to a location in Burbank, California. I have my best agent there as we speak. I've pulled her from another mission she was engaged in with the DEA. You can link up with her in 24 hours Casey after you get treated for your injuries."

"The CIA calling the shots now General?" questioned Casey.

"As the NSA and CIA were jointly responsible for the Security of the Intersect system, The President has ordered both agencies to work in partnership to resolve this", replied Beckman sourly. "You are to link up with Agent Sarah Walker of the CIA to retrieve and between you both, secure the Intersect data by any means necessary. Dismissed."

"General", saluted Casey. "Sir", he nodded towards Montgomery and then left the meeting room. When he left, Montgomery turned to Beckman. "Diane, every piece of intelligence data from our respective agencies and the ones we've extracted from around the world was in that system. Are you sure Casey is the right agent for this?"

"He's the only person available right now that I can be sure is not a Ring agent apart from us Roan. We're in enough hot water as it is for monitoring our allies' calls and data systems. If that intelligence gets out and people find out the actual scale of that monitoring, it'll make the Wikileaks saga look like the proverbial storm in a tea cup. Not to mention everything else that we had stored there." She continued, "More to the point, considering Agent Walker's history with Casey, are you sure you have made the right choice of agent?

"No doubt whatsoever, Diane. Now if you don't mind, there's a dirty martini with my name on it somewhere in this building."

"Are you serious? The greatest intelligence leak in history is about to blow up in our faces and you're thinking of martinis?"

"I never joke about martinis General." Seeing her expression he added, "Look Diane, between us we're responsible for the fall of the Berlin Wall and the removal of several other unfriendly governments. We can fix this."

"I hope you're right Roan."

"When have I ever been wrong? Now how about joining me for that martini?"

~oOo~

_Four Seasons Hotel, Washington D.C._

Daniel Shaw swept his room for bugs before he pulled a circular device from his inside pocket. It was designed to call only one number. It rang twice before a voice answered.

"Report Agent Wood."

"Director, Omaha has been eliminated."

"Good work Agent Wood. Enjoy your time off."

Shaw gaped at the phone in his hand.

"Shaw, that looks as stupid in real life as it does in films."

"But there's no bugs or cameras in my room. I swept this place twice," stammered Shaw

"Remember who you're dealing with here. But seeing as you're a bit challenged, I knew you were suspended before you did. And do you really think I designed that surveillance detector for the CIA to trace my bugs and cameras?"

Shaw had nothing to say in reply. He was beginning to regret getting involved with the Ring. But then he remembered it was for Evelyn. He'd planned to use the Ring resources to get his revenge on the CIA for his wife's burn order and whoever the agent was that carried it out. Then he'd rise within their ranks as they took over the intelligence agencies and set them back on the correct course that many felt they had deviated from since they won the Cold War. His dealings with the Ring however made him feel that he was always a step or two behind the leadership. The members of the cell he was in felt the exact same.

"Agent Wood, the team investigating your actions will clear you of any wrongdoing, so you'll be back in the field in less than a week. You'll receive further orders at that time. Oh and one last thing, my surveillance team have requested that you stop watching all those super hero films on your hotel pay per view. They're able to quote the dialogue backwards at this stage. Director out."

Back in his office in Silicon Valley, the Ring Director smirked at the stupefied expression of Shaw on his screen. He sneered at the small hopes and ambitions of those he had recruited, perfectly personified by the likes of schnooks like Shaw and Larkin. He had far bigger plans than just running the intelligence agencies behind the scenes. The Ring was a means to his end and would be discarded when it had served its purpose, like his competitors in the IT sector who were supposedly too big to compete against and whom he ultimately ruined.

The only issue he had to deal with now was to locate the data Larkin had stolen from the Intersect system. Powering up his wrist computer, he prepared to access the Pursuit system he designed. In a few months he would introduce this to the world and within two years he planned that it would take over from the existing server based Internet. As it began its search, he took notes on which features he'd leave out of the public release.

~oOo~

_CASA BARTOWSKI/WOODCOMB FOLLOWING MORNING_

Chuck felt like death warmed up. When he managed to stagger to his feet, he felt that death warmed up would be preferable as it felt like his brain was trying crawl out through his forehead and wasn't fussy about what damage it did on the way out. Feeling unjustly ignored, his gut decided to join the discomfort competition with its own methods of grabbing Chucks attention. Moving gingerly to the bathroom while the floor seemed to insist on swaying, Chuck only walked into the walls twice before he made it inside. Where he stayed for a good hour.

If he had known that every groan, curse, pleas for divine and/or infernal assistance and all other unmentionable bodily sounds he made were being picked up by a bug placed outside the door, by the occupant of a Porsche parked behind his Nerd Herder outside, he probably would have tried to carry himself with a bit more dignity.

Sarah Walker could only shake her head in amused disgust. She was glad she hadn't actually placed a camera or bug in the bathroom when she broke into the apartment the night before after receiving the call from Director Montgomery. She was also thankful she skipped breakfast after hearing some of the sounds coming through the ear buds she wore.

Just great she thought. Our secrets are in the hands of an idiot. At least his laptop had been fried, but she was still uncertain as to whether he had backed up his data anywhere. She hadn't been able to locate an external backup, but couldn't check to see if he made a copy online. She studied the photo of the current sole occupant that had been on the file forwarded to her last night.

She smiled when she skimmed over the details. Charles Irving Bartowski, former Stanford attendee, expelled for cheating and selling exams after hacking into their mainframe. Living with his sister since then and currently working in the Buymore, Burbank branch. Best friends with Bryce Larkin, confirmed double agent.

No girlfriend or any other significant female attachments since college.

She knew then, the approach she would take with the mark.

"Piece of cake", she smirked.

_A/N 03.11.13_

_Please read and review._

_The Pursuit system I mention here is a real system currently being worked on by the University of Cambridge (Uk) amongst others. It's planned to allow computers to find whatever information you're looking for on any computer directly, rather than the current server based Internet system of looking for the URL where it thinks the information is stored. My version in this story will be a little more sinister._

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	2. Chapter 2 Welcome to Buymoria

_To be honest, I was surprised by the generally positive re-action to the first chapter of this story. So thank you to all those who reviewed and those sent a PM. I really hope you like this one as much where I introduce a character that I feel never got enough time in the show._

_I don't own Chuck. I also don't own Windows or Apple._

Chapter 2 Welcome to Buymoria

Once he had showered dressed and felt vaguely human again, Chuck proceeded to the kitchen to see if there was anything he could stomach for breakfast. He opened the fridge and found containers with his name on them. He peered a little closer at them and recognised Devon's writing on a series of beakers. Presuming them to be one of his special "Awesome" (capital A) protein shakes, he pulled out the one that had Chuck Day 1 on it, unscrewed the cap and took a big sniff.

That was a mistake.

His stomach reminded him very forcefully that it hadn't forgiven him for the previous nights over indulgence and it was no humour for the special green and gloopy colon cleanser/ biological weapon contained within. He snapped, flung it at the kitchen wall and unleashed a tirade of abuse at Devon, his questionable parentage and his all-round awesomeness. He then proceeded to curse the Buymore, Stanford and his own whole sucky life in general.

Outside, Sarah Walker could feel herself blushing. Although she was a hardened CIA agent and had seen and dealt with some pretty unsavoury people and situations, she found that the stream of invective that filled her ears at that particular point was rather impressive. Not to mention surprisingly inventive.

She snapped to attention at the sound of a door slamming hard enough to crack the glass in its pane. The mark had his arms full of plastic containers, a laptop bag hanging from his left shoulder and a set of keys in his mouth. He somehow managed to fling the lid of the bin up and drop them inside of the bin. The bin lid managed to catch him perfectly on his head on the way down which of course meant the keys in his mouth now joined the contents of the bin. Sarah didn't need the bugs she'd planted around the fountain to pick up every word of what Chuck thought about his latest stroke of misfortune.

For a few seconds she wondered about her original plan to make contact with him at the Buymore that morning. He seemed more a danger to himself as opposed to the national security threat Montgomery had insisted he was, but decided to stick with it. She had already picked up the "broken" lap top from the CIA sub-station that morning and she didn't want to deal with the bureaucracy of signing it back in again. She was distracted by a sudden rap on her passenger window.

~oOo~

Once he had retrieved his keys from the bin and dealt with the finger wagging Mrs Hedistian, Chuck switched off the alarm of his Nerd Herder and got in. He flicked on the radio to check the traffic. The radio announcer had just mentioned the President was due to arrive that morning at the group headquarters of Burton Electronics in Burbank when a cascade of images flowed through Chucks mind.

_A bald eagle_

_Executive order 10860_

_Seal of the President of the United States of America_

_Airforce one_

_A fleet of cars with the Stars and Stripes_

_Best Western Hotel, Burbank_

_A date 19/09/2013_

_Execuitve order 10860_

_A bald eagle_

"He's already here you idiot", muttered Chuck. Wait, he thought, how do I know that? But before he could think it through, the radio announced traffic restrictions on all routes leading to and from the airport and the surrounding area. Another flash of images struck him.

_A Los Angeles Street view map_

_A zoomed in version of a Burbank area street view map_

_A deployment of police cars at intersections._

_Los Angeles gridlock_

_A clear route from Echo Park to the general area of the Buymore._

_A Los Angeles Street view map._

It was then he remembered what had happened the night before. Feeling somewhat more clear headed than when he woke up, he realised the email Bryce had sent him had something to do with what he was experiencing. Despite his current position in the Buymore, his computer skills were second to none. The days when his hacking skills had earned him the nickname of "The Piranha" for such achievements as stealing one cent from the National Treasury and the personal phone number of the Secretary of State were still fresh. In one of his weaker moments after a second bottle of Chardonnay, he had hacked the mainframes of the NSA, FBI and CIA looking for evidence of UFOs to humour Morgan.

The search was as fruitless as he knew it would be. He had also browsed through various files at random chock full of such fascinating titles as Procedural Guidelines for Filing Mission Reports in a Secure Manner. He did open one curious file with the title Interagency Systems for Espionage and Counter Terrorism or Intersect for short.

It seemed that all the U.S. intelligence agencies with domestic and international operations had come together to pool all the intelligence they had gathered over the years and created one huge database. Project Intersect was headed up by a person code named Orion. Orion had created a system that not just held the data, but was able to search for patterns within that data at astonishing speed. Chuck had got as far as reading that they were working on the next stage to upload this information into smaller hand held devices. There was even a paragraph on researching the possibility of implanting sections of the data or specific skill sets into a person's brain. At that point, his self-designed security software warned him that he had been spotted. It had taken some serious skill on his behalf to wipe out his traces and to mislead the search bots that were unleashed to track his intrusion.

"What the hell have you done to me Bryce Larkin?" he said out loud. Merchant banker my ass, he muttered as he subsequently flashed on his file. His head began to throb as he started up the Nerd Herder and pulled out.

~oOo~

_Five minutes earlier_

If Chuck had been paying better attention to his surroundings, he would have noticed a tall brunette woman get into the passenger side of the Porsche 30 yards behind him as he got into his own.

"Hey Walker, whatcha doing", smirked the brunette.

"Carina, what the hell? I'm on surveillance here."

"What? Stalking tall dark and geeky up front in the handbag car? Just your type if I remember correctly. Which I do."

"I told you last night I was being pulled of the Gaez mission," fumed Sarah. "Amy was to replace me this morning."

"Come on Walker, she's a ditz fresh of the Farm. I'd swear she's the sort that accessorises her gun. I need you to have my back against Agosto 'Lame Ass' Gaez. We're a team, we look out for each other."

Sarah turned to glare at Carina. "Two words, Miller. Peyman Alahi."

"You're not still mad at me about that Walker? It was years ago." Her voice trailed off as a very sharp knife was suddenly pressed against her throat.

"Listen you brunette skank, I'm not in the humour. So don't piss on me and tell me it's raining," Sarah replied coldly. "If you want to tag along, you will not fuck up my mission. Blink twice if you understand. There's a good girl."

"Jesus Walker, you really need to get laid" Carina gasped as the knife disappeared from her throat back to wherever Sarah concealed it. "Shutting up now," she said as Sarah's glare flicked back in her direction. Sarah put her ear buds back in, just in time to hear Chuck's grumblings about Bryce.

"Gotcha Bartowski", she let slip.

Carina looked at her. "I've never seen anyone love a mission like you Walker," she sighed. As both cars pulled out, she asked, "So what's the plan with geek boy up ahead?"

"I'm going to make initial contact at his workplace", replied Sarah.

"Ah the broken phone routine".

"Not this time. We're using a "broken" laptop for this case. Apparently the mark Bartowski is a bit of a computer wizard and this laptop is broken in such a way as to spark his interest. Once he switches it on, it will lock onto whatever phone he has and transmit all the data back to a secure CIA server. From there ….." She was interrupted by a theatrical yawn from Carina

"You lost me at broken laptop Walker. So you think the mark has gotten his hands on information he shouldn't. How are you going you play it? You're not the flirty type the CIA normally send on missions like this. This is more my line. Remember your mish with Manoosh Depak? And didn't you fail seduction school twice?"

"Bite me Miller."

"All a girl has to do is ask, Blondie."

The rest of the drive passed in silence.

~oOo~

"Stay in the car Carina".

"What and miss the fun? I won't disturb your precious mission. I need new speakers for my iPod anyway, so it might as well be here."

"Fine", huffed Sarah checking herself in the vanity mirror. "How do I look?"

"Like my Swedish maiden aunt. What's your cover supposed to be anyway?"

"I'm the regional manager of the Orange Orange and my laptop has crashed with all the company tax records on it."

"Boooring!" declared Carina. "Come here," she said, reaching over to the driver's side, "Let's lose the fake glasses. Hmmm. And the frustrated spinster bun."

"Carina!" protested Sarah.

"And now let's open a few buttons of your shirt here for a hint of cleavage. There. Perfect."

"I'm trying to look professional to gain his confidence," grumped Sarah.

Carina sighed. "Look Walker, you're the best agent I've ever worked with from any agency, but sometimes you haven't a clue. We're walking into Nerdvana here. We are probably the only two attractive women who'll walk into that place today. They'll fall over themselves to get our attention. I'll distract the rest of them if you concentrate this Bartowski guy. He'll brag about it for weeks afterwards of the hot blonde chick that was flirting with him. Or least until you execute his burn order anyway."

"You sure about this?" queried Sarah uncertainly.

"Always works for me. Let's get this over with. I swear I can feel the desperation seeping out of the Buy Moron from here."

~oOo~

Chuck surmised that it must be Mystery Crisper Monday when he found himself at the Nerd Herd desk on his own. The only other employees on the floor were Skip, Fernando and Jeff. Skip was busy in the customer service desk (nicknamed "The Hole") trying to explain to a frantic father that the second hand digital camera he'd bought from EBay actually required digital tape and that was why his daughter's ballet recital was not recorded for posterity. Fernando was busy doing whatever Fernando actually did. He didn't want to think about what Jeff might be doing near the automatic doors, but he was at least upright under his own power and his eyes were open. For now.

Chuck flicked through the full in tray of work orders before him. Most of them were for a particularly nasty bug called the Miley Cyrus Virus which insisted on downloading a veritable flood of pictures, (each one digitally altered to be more graphic than the last) of the named celebrity to anything with internet access until your computer or phone crashed and burned. But even before it did that, it would spread the joy to other computers by sending copies of itself to all your email and phone contacts and any social network sites or blogs you subscribed to. Only the Burton Express phones and computers were immune to this.

Chuck looked up and saw Fernando wheeling in more laptops. All the California Buymores were sending their customers infected laptops to the Burbank branch as only Chuck seemed to have the ability to clear the virus and restore a computer or phone to its original working order. Not for the first time he realised that no good deed goes un-punished.

As the rest of the employees returned from the break-room and Morgan made a bee line towards him, Chuck heard something which chilled him to the bone every time he heard it. Jeff was talking to customers.

"Hello Ladies how may I service you?"

Chuck cringed. The worst part of it was that Jeff was just about sober enough to think he was being helpful. The monotone way he asked the question added to the creepy air he projected. The new assistant manager, Emmet Milbarge had followed the two customers in and in his most unctuous tone, said "That'll do Jeff. Now then ladies, how may we help you in Buymoria today? We have all the latest kitchen appliances in stock for your perusal."

Chuck noticed that the brunette and blonde starred at Milbarge and Jeff as if they were something that had stuck to the soles of their shoes and then pointedly turn away from them. They looked around the store until the brunette's gaze landed on the Nerd herd desk and they began to walk in his direction, leaving behind a confused Jeff and a frustrated Milbarge.

As they got closer, Chuck stood up to prepare for his first customers of the day. The brunette peeled off towards the phone accessories section when she was halfway to the desk, but the blonde kept walking in his direction.

~oOo~

Sarah eyed the mark as she projected a confidence she didn't feel. She was a tall woman but Bartowski had a good 4-5 inches on her and although she noted he was of slim build, her training enabled her to notice that he was no couch potato and seemed to do some sort of physical exercise on a regular basis. He was also a lot better looking in the flesh than in his photograph, with a winning smile and deep set hazel brown eyes. Despite herself, she found she was smiling back. Until the mark did something very odd.

~oOo~

Chucked watched the statuesque blonde woman coming in his direction with what he recognised as an Apple Macbook. There weren't many of them left anymore, so he was glad to have something different from the usual run of Windows based systems that were still hanging on against the Burton OS. Although he preferred brunettes personally, he couldn't take his eyes of her, even ignoring Morgan's loud enough to be heard on the moon "whisper" of "Oh my God, it's Vicki Vale." The sun shone directly on her from behind and seemed to make her glow from within. Chuck's imagination began to supply a little choral music soundtrack. It was then the "flash" (as he'd begun naming them) hit him.

_A French Diplomatic passport in the name of Elana Truffaut_

_A map of Corsica_

_A police mug shot of jean Venzolasca, head of the Pied Noir gang_

_A Renault car exploding_

_The dead body of the same Jean Venzolasca in the exploded Renault_

_The French Diplomatic passport of Elana Truffaut_

Before he could make sense of the images that flashed through his head, a second one struck

_An Irish passport in the name of Katie O Donnell_

_A closed circuit still of 4 men identified as Real and Continuity IRA members meeting in a car park_

_A cache of AK 47s, ammunition and C4 marked stolen from decommissioning dump in Republic of Ireland (location redacted)_

_Closed circuit footage of "Katie O Donnell" taking on the 4 men and shooting all four dead before shooting out the camera taking the footage_

_An Irish passport in the name of Katie O Donnell_

They were the same woman. Who was now at the desk counter looking at him with a puzzled frown.

"Are you okay?" Sarah asked.

"Yes. Yes. Everything fine here. Just a dizzy spell", blabbed Chuck in a voice about three octaves above his normal pitch.

Sarah began to wish she could climb back into her bed and get back out the right side. She decided to try again.

"Okaaay. My laptop here is gone on the blink and I have a lot of confidential company information like contracts and employee records that I can no longer access. Can you help me," Sarah asked "Chuck" she said starring at his name tag.

"Sure I can Miss…?" replied Chuck

"Walker. Sarah Walker. But please call me Sarah, "she smiled.

Another flash struck Chuck

_A manila folder stamped CIA_

_Current cover: Sarah Walker_

_Real name: Classified_

_Date of Birth: Classified_

_Family: Classified_

_Current mission status: Active_

_Current mission: Classified _

_Security level: 6_

_A manila folder stamped CIA_

He snapped out of the flash to find his head currently cradled by the soft hands of the blonde in front of him and the bluest eyes he had ever seen. Concern was written all over her face.

"Are you okay Chuck? You looked like you were having a seizure".

"No No I'm good. Everything good on my part. No reason for me to freak out."

Morgan took that as the moment to say "Hey Chuck, who's your friend?"

"That's Sarah. Sarah is her name. This is Sarah. Morgan, Sarah. Sarah, Morgan," babbled Chuck. He sighed internally as she let go of his face and looked at Morgan. His head began to hurt again.

Who the hell names their kids Chuck and Morgan, thought Sarah, giving Morgan a tight smile. She found herself annoyed for no discernable reason that he disturbed her time with Chu… Bartowski, she corrected herself.

"Come on Walker, we done here yet?"

Carina had been trailed by a small herd of lovesick Green Shirts and Nerd Herders to the desk. She managed to keep the panic out of her voice. Just about. She hadn't been as afraid since a botched mission against the Taliban in Pakistan.

That was a flash too much for Chuck. All he could remember was an Argentinian passport in the name of Maria Elena Alberti before he passed out.

_A/N please read and review_

_Next Chapter to be published 15/11/13 and every 7 days thereafter. My other fanfic Sarah vs. the Dark Passenger will have its next chapter uploaded 12/11/13_


	3. Chapter 3 Do you know who I am?

_Thank for all your follows and favourites for this story. I love to see them and I love reviews. They only take a minute or two and I know I'm not alone when I say they really help me along. _

_My other fanfic in progress Sarah vs. the Dark Passenger will be updated 20/11/2013. _

_And lest I forget, a thank you to Uplink2 for helpful pointers and advice. If you are not reading Chuck VS Life, Love, & Lies, you're missing out on a very good Season 3 AU by the same author._

_I have to post this a little early as I have a lot of study to catch up on tomorrow._

Chapter 3 Do you know who I am?

"_Aces Charles. You're Aces."_

"_Stanford was five years ago Chuck. You can't work at the Buymore all your life."_

"_But define sandwich, Chuck. I mean technically anything between two slices of bread…"_

"_Three words Chuckster. White water rafting."_

"_Chuck, this is Jill. Jill, my best friend Chuck."_

"_Bartowski! Corporate's on my ass to fill the assistant manager position. Do you want it or not?"_

"_Calm centre Chuckster. Find your calm centre and it'll come much easier."_

"_It's called a memory palace Charles."_

"_Walker. Sarah Walker. But please call me Sarah."_

_Calm centre._

"_I'm sorry Mr Bartowski, but the board cannot name the person who revealed you had the stolen exam."_

_Calm centre._

_Breathe._

_Don't freak out._

~oOo~

~What's going on over here?"

Sarah looked towards Carina. They noticed one of the idiots that accosted them when they walked into the store was now standing at the Nerd Herd desk glaring at them and Chuck's prone form.

"Don't worry Miss Walker. I'll deal with this," said Carina, throwing her a wink only Sarah could see.

"Bartowski, are you sleeping on the job again," snarled Milbarge.

"Excuse me? You are?" snapped Carina

"Emmet Milbarge. I am the assistant manager of this fine establishment," said Milbarge drawing himself up to his full height. "And who might the two of you be?"

Carina smiled. When the throng of Green Shirts and Nerd Herders saw that smile they suddenly began to back away nervously.

"And where", said Carina advancing towards Milbarge' "is the actual manager, Michael Tucker?" She had noted the name when they came into the Buymore.

Something in her tone advised some of the more intelligent of the staff that being somewhere else (anywhere further away really)was a great idea. They began to scatter around the store, dragging their less astute colleagues with them.

"He is on a training course with the El Segundo School of Finance Miss. And you still haven't told me who you are," snapped Milbarge, trying to hide the fact that he was getting very scared.

Carina thought fast. "Carina Finkelstein. I believe you work for my father."

Emmet swallowed. He began to retreat as Carina continued to advance. "Look Millie, Daddyis trying to win a very important account from my personal friend back there. That would make Daddy very happy. When Daddy's not happy, he starts kicking ass and taking names. Right now, your name is on the top of the ass kicking list. "

Milbarge kept retreating until he was backed up against the employee of the month wall. Carina strode right up to him so that he had to look up to meet her eyes. "You know," she said, "Daddy hasn't fired anyone this month. Maybe I'll tell him you felt me up at the kitchen appliances."

"I did not! You wouldn't dare," squeaked Milbarge.

"Or maybe I'll warm up with the fact that this moron right behind me is smelling my hair in front of his perverted Indian girlfriend," continued Carina. She suddenly swung an elbow back and heard the satisfying snap of a broken nose. She never got tired of that sound.

"You crazy bitch! What have you done to Jeff?"

"Ehm Lester", began Milbarge, "now is not the best time. Ms Finkelstein and I are talking."

"Is that pot I smell on you Lester," asked Carina sweetly.

"No. No No. No. And anyway it's Jeff's. If I had any," babbled Lester.

"Oh dear Millie," said Carina almost regretfully. That's three strikes. Sexual harassment, Drug taking in the workplace and this idiot on the floor is obviously drunk. Oh and you have an overworked employee collapsed from exhaustion at the service desk. Better start clearing out your office."

Emmet Milbarge did the only thing he could possibly do. He cried like a little girl.

~oOo~

Meanwhile, Sarah was busy checking Chuck for a pulse. She found a ragged fluttery beat in the carotid artery which worried her. But before she could decide what to do, she thought she felt it becoming steadier. Thinking she was mistaken, she took her fingers away and tried his wrist. If anything, it was steadier and stronger. It was then that Chuck opened his eyes.

"Sarah?"

Sarah flinched. That felt more like an accusation than a question. For some reason, that bothered her.

"What happened?" grumbled Chuck drawing himself to a sitting position, but still keeping his eyes on her.

"You fainted. How do you feel?"

Chuck continued to stare at her. He felt the beginning of a new flash. Without thinking, he suppressed it. Then he let it flow again, but slowly. "Fine 'Miss Walker'. What is it you really want?"

"We need to get you out of here. You're in danger," Sarah tried.

"What? From you? Or from your friend Miss Maria Elena Alberti? If that is her real name."

"And how would you know that name Chuck," replied Sarah coldly as she slowly reached around her back for her Smith and Wesson. Now her confidence returned instantly. More importantly, she could see that the mark knew it as well.

Chuck faltered, knowing he had somehow given himself away. "Look, you need Bryce Larkin. He's the one that sent me the mail. It had all these pictures in it and now I'm remembering things I shouldn't know."

"Bryce is dead, Chuck. He died sending those pictures to you. Did you look at them?"

"Yes! Wait! Was I not supposed to see them? Hold on, Bryce Larkin is dead?"

"Occupational hazard in our line of work, Chuck." Seeing his crestfallen face, she said in a softer voice, "Chuck, I don't know what's happening to you or how you know about Carina and me, but can you do one thing for me?"

"Bryce is dead?" repeated Chuck in a very small voice.

"Chuck!" she hissed. "Focus." She didn't know how much time she had before this mission went to hell and she had no idea what Carina was doing.

Seeing that she was in danger of losing him, Sarah risked taking a quick peek over the counter of the Nerd Herd desk. She saw that Carina had the assistant manager well in hand. That is, if you could consider a grown man on his knees with tears streaming down his face, begging not to be fired well in hand. Sensing that Carina was enjoying herself too much, she ducked back down behind the counter to quickly sort out Chuck. Double checking that she had a twilight dart in easy reach, she took both his hands in her own.

"Chuck, look at me."

"Just leave me alone," he said sourly.

Dammit, she thought. Without thinking, she let go of his hands. Suddenly she reached forward, grabbed his face with both of her hands and mashed her lips against his.

To say Chuck was stunned would a bit like saying the North Pole gets a little chilly in the winter. He felt her tongue flicking across his lips, demanding entrance. Instinctively, he parted his lips to allow it. He felt her fingers running through his hair as she began to deepen the kiss. He wrapped his arms around Sarah pulling her close to him, stroking her back. He felt her wrapping her arms around his neck to get that millimetre closer. He was sure his brain ceased to ….

Sarah found herself getting lost in the kiss. She was supposed to be doing….. something else, but she wasn't quite capable of forming a coherent thought at the moment. Sure, she had kissed and been kissed by plenty of men, but not one of them made her feel like this. It was if she was the sole and complete focus of Chuck's attention, that he saw and felt nothing but her need. As if he was making it all about her. She wanted this to last forever. She…

….felt a ball of paper hit her right between the shoulder blades.

Tearing herself away from Chuck's lips, she turned to see a surprised looking Carina. The surprise transformed into a very evil grin.

"When the two of you are finished playing tonsil hockey, I've got Chucky there the rest of the week off. So what do you say we bring him home Sarah?'

"Give me a second", gasped Sarah. She turned towards Chuck, who had a very dazed look on his face. She scooched over and sat beside him so that they were touching, side by side.

"Chuck, can you one thing for me?"

"Yeah?" Chuck replied dreamily, his eyes not quite focussed.

"Trust me."

Chuck reached over to stroke her face. "Okay Sarah. What do we do now?"

"Carina and I are going to take you home. We'll plan our next move from there."

~oOo~

_Burton Enterprises HQ, one hour ago_

The Ring Director was a very puzzled man. He had pinned down the last known Intersect data location to an apartment complex in Burbank itself where the trail ran cold. He knew he was overlooking something, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what Larkin had been trying to do. Using the Pursuit programme, he decided to retrace his steps one more time.

He isolated the footage of the Echo Park complex from the previous night for a final perusal. Still nothing. Then he noticed that three of the cameras went off for a few seconds one after the other before coming back on. The signal when it came back was just a tiny bit worse to his trained eye. But it was enough for him to wonder was there anything more behind it.

Tapping rapidly on his wrist computer, he manipulated some of the nearby cameras to take a closer look at them. He zoomed in on them in turn before he was certain. They each had a tiny bugging device attached to the cables that he recognised as one of his own designs for the CIA. Whoever did it was obviously good as they did not appear on a single frame of footage. But from there, he was able to trace the other bugs and nano cameras that were strategically placed around the courtyard. Most of their parameters were aligned with one particular apartment. From there, he was able to trace that there were more bugs of his design inside it.

Feeling that he was finally getting somewhere and satisfied the CIA had unknowingly done the ground work for him, he tried to access the bugs and cameras he now knew to be inside. That was where he hit a problem.

All signals suddenly ceased from the apartment. They were followed by the courtyard ones. As he tried to regain them, his wrist computer suddenly pinged, letting him know he had an incoming communication. He tapped the reject icon. To his astonishment, it came through anyway.

_BACK OFF DIRECTOR_

He starred at the screen for a split second before rapidly typing

_WHO ARE YOU_

The reply was swift

_REALLY? WE'RE GOING TO PLAY IT LIKE THAT?_

Just as swiftly, he typed back.

_WHO ARE YOU!_

The reply

_ONE CLUE. FIVE YEARS AGO YOU TRIED TO KILL ME._

Impossible, he thought. I planted and detonated that NSA incinerator myself. He couldn't be alive.

_REPORTS OF MY DEATH WERE GREATLY EXAGGERATED_

"You're dead, this is a trick!" shouted the Director.

"Orion is very much alive 'Director'," replied a distorted voice through the wrist computer. "Don't bother trying to trace this transmission. I taught you everything you know. But I didn't show you everything I know Jackie boy."

"What do you want Orion?"

"Work it out Jackie, You're a smart boy. Orion out."

The wrist computer began to smoke and to heat up. The Director whipped it off his wrist with a curse. Orion's timing couldn't have been worse. But he didn't hold his position as Ring Director without contingency plans ready to activate at a moment's notice. Thinking quickly, he whipped out his phone and dialled the first number.

"Frost, report."

"Volkoff's Hydra data will be ready for transmission to the CIA in the next 48 hours Director," came a female voice. "He will no longer be a threat to the Rings interests".

"I'm bringing the schedule forward. I need the CIA pre-occupied and devoting all their resources to analysing that data and picking off his operatives and suppliers from now. I'm sending you the update to make this possible immediately as we speak. Director out"

"Yes Director. Frost out."

One down, he thought "Leader, report."

"We are finally free of Fulcrum. All personnel and assets affiliated to them have either been eliminated or based on my 'good' work in the NSA, captured by same. Ready to initiate Projects Black Rock and Meadow Branch on your word," came a second female voice.

"Put them on ice. Beckman's going to be too busy for the next few days with the Fulcrum clean up, so we have plenty of time. You will be getting a commendation and a months' vacation from her tomorrow, so act surprised when she calls you. Report to me after meeting with her for a new assignment. Director out."

"Certainly Director," came the puzzled reply. "Leader out."

Two down and backup plan ready. So far so good. Things were going his way again. One more call to make.

"Vincent, There's a change of plan for tonight. I need to go on a little 'fishing' expedition."

He told Vincent exactly what he needed. He knew he was taking a big chance, but he hoped that by tonight he would have flushed out the final location of the Intersect data. Maybe a little more than that.

~oOo~

Sarah pulled Chuck to his feet. "Lean on me Chuck. That's it."

"Sarah, I'm okay. Really," protested Chuck.

Sarah was having none of it. She draped his right arm around her neck and together they walked out from behind the Nerd Desk. Chuck felt he could have been in a worse position. "Carina dear, let's go," she said.

"But I didn't get my iPod speakers Sarah," she replied petulantly.

"You can get them at Best Buy some other time. Come on."

"Allow me Miss Finkelstein. Compliments of the Buymore," pleaded Milbarge, pressing three sets into her hands. "If there's anything else, please feel free to call by anytime. And please give my compliments to your father."

"Gee, thanks Millie. That's very nice. But speaking of Best Buy, why is one of their display tables at the entrance? You know, our competition? The table with the cut price iPods?

"Grimes!" roared Milbarge.

"Yes Millie?" replied Morgan at his elbow.

"What you are trying to do to me? Can you imagine the shame, if some Large Mart stooge put out a display on our Buy More green? Do you know who this lady is?"

But Carina was already gone.

Sarah and Carina had lost any interest they had (i.e. none) in the Buymore at this stage. They stepped out into the car park and made their way with Chuck towards Sarah's Porsche.

"I'd love to say it's been a pleasure Carina, but don't let me keep you from the DEA mission you're supposed to be on."

"It's okay Walker, I'm on a personal day. So what's next?"

"What's next is that I'm taking Chuck home to Echo Park and I'll figure out what to do from there. You are going to stay out of my way."

"How do you know where I live?" said Chuck suddenly.

When Carina saw Sarah fumbling for an answer, she stepped in. "We're government agents Bartowski. We know everything," she said in a very intimidating tone.

Chuck however was not going to back down. "Have you been spying on me?" he spluttered. "This is such a violation of my civil rights!"

"Save it Bartowski. Walker, you have a bigger problem."

"Apart from you still hanging around?"

"John Casey's goon squad is here. The Suburban at your six o clock. His Crown Vic is at the exit. I presume he's not here to collect us for afternoon tea. Hey, what's with geek boy? He looks like he's about to faint again."

When Chuck felt the beginning of a flash at the mention of the name John Casey, he forced his mind to be as still as possible, using the yoga relaxation techniques that Devon had taught him. He let the flash flow through his mind. Then using the memory retention tricks his father had taught both Ellie and him, he recalled it again.

_A file stamped NSA_

_Cover name: John Casey_

_Real name: Classified_

_Rank: Major_

_Former Affiliation: 1st Special Operations Wing_

_Family: Classified_

_Current assignment: Operation Sand Wall._

_A series of handwritten letters._

_Confirmed kills: Classified_

_A file stamped NSA _

"Chuck? You okay?

Chucks arm was still draped around Sarah (Frankly it felt rather nice). "Just a flash," he said.

"A flash?" asked Carina and Sarah at the same time.

"Yes. That email Bryce sent me? All the encoded pictures? They're all up here," he said, tapping the side of his head. "It seems with the right stimulus, I can recall them on demand."

"Chuck, are you telling me all of our secrets are in your head?" said a stunned Sarah trying to keep her voice low. She hadn't thought of removing Chucks arm from around her neck (Frankly it felt rather nice).

"He's just bullshiting us Walker," snarled Carina

Chuck glared at her, then made a big show of clearing his throat while saying "Sugar Bear".

A split second later, Chuck found himself detached from Sarah and his wrist held in a very un-natural not to mention painful position. "Say that again and they'll never find your dismembered corpse 'Chuck'. Do we understand each other?" said Carina in a sweet yet undeniably terrifying tone.

"Let me go. I don't want to hurt you," panted Chuck.

"Really Chuckles? Please try. Give me a reason to put a bullet through that big brain of yours." Carina tried to force Chuck down on one knee, but he was too tall to get the proper leverage on him and he kept wriggling in her grasp.

Sarah had never seen Carina like this. Carina had never lost her cool, not even against the worst of odds in Pakistan. She already knew at least three ways to get out of the shoddy wrist lock Carina had only half applied on Chuck. Personally she had no time for them and settled for breaking the wrist straight away.

She was about to step in, when Chuck wrenched himself out of Carinas grip and spun around to face her. In the same move, He threw his right leg back slightly and executed what Sarah recognised from her Kempo training as a rookie as a Leopard Fist straight into Carina's solar plexus. She also noted however, that he pulled the punch. It was still enough to knock Carina back gasping, against Sarah's Porsche.

"That's enough you two. We don't have time for this, Casey's team is on the move."

"We're in trouble aren't we?" swallowed Chuck holding his wrist gingerly.

"Well Duh with a capital Z Sherlock," wheezed Carina, still trying to catch her breath.

"I'm calling in an extraction team for us," said Sarah pulling out her phone.

"Actually, I have a better idea," replied Chuck. "One that's more discreet for us and involves less 'extraction'. Which frankly sounds rather painful."

"Can't we just shoot him now?" groaned Carina.

"What have you got in mind Chuck?" replied Sarah trying (and failing spectacularly) to supress her grin. She was beginning to enjoy this mission.

**A/N 15.11.13 please read and review. And if you read any other fanfics, try and do the same for them. It only takes a minute and helps keep the fandoms going. Next update in 7 days (or earlier if the muse strikes).**


	4. Chapter 4 Pineapple

_Thank you all for your reviews, follows and favourites. I seem to be doing something right, which is very encouraging. In my more optimistic moments, I see this continuing beyond the sequel I have already outlined._

_Time for a little touch of OOC for two of our favourite characters. But I don't own Chuck or any of the trademarks in this chapter. I also don't own any lines lifted from the TV series in this chapter and tweaked a little bit. I do own any mistakes I've made though._

_Chapter 4_

_Pineapple_

"Agents. This is Casey. What's going on over there? Over."

"We've located the mark Major. But the subject is currently in the custody of CIA agent Sarah Walker. Also an additional unknown female. Over."

"Describe the unknown female. Over."

"Five foot ten in height, slim build, long brunette hair. Currently attempting to subdue subject. Over"

Casey groaned to himself. Sarah Walker _and_ Carina Miller. He was not in the humour for this. Or ever really.

"Major? Do you copy?"

"The other female is Agent Miller of the DEA. She is not supposed to be here," replied Casey.

"Major, Agent Miller is down! Will we go in? Over."

"Hold your positions. What is Agent Walker doing? Over."

"Sir, she appears to be…. laughing?"

"That doesn't surprise me," grunted Casey.

"Sorry Major, can you repeat?"

"Let's move in. Chuck Bartowski is your mark. NSA director wants him with a pulse. 'Til we find out who he's working with and what he knows, he lives. Detain the CIA and DEA skirts. Casey out."

"Roger that Major."

**~o0o~**

"Walker, how many are we dealing with?" asked Carina.

"Just three, not including Casey."

"Okay, if you delay them, I'll get Chuckie here to safety."

Sarah looked at Carina. "Just how stupid do you think I am Miller? You screwed Casey and me over once already with that Alahi diamond. Then you wonder why our agencies don't co-operate with the DEA more often?"

"The DEA is going to have an interest in this guy too. It's not just NSA and CIA secrets in his head, Walker."

"Er Guys. We need to go now," interjected a nervous Chuck. The NSA detail was now only about 10 cars away

"Walker, have you got my back?" asked Carina, suddenly holding a knife in her hand.

"Always. Even when you don't deserve it," replied Sarah, who now had two wicked looking hair pin/skewer like objects in her own hands. Chuck just stared, goggle-eyed at her, wondering where she had been concealing them. He decided he didn't want to know and began to back away, while keeping a wary eye on her. He got a perfect view of what followed before he heard a click just at his ear.

Carina spun and launched her knife, burying it in the thigh of the nearest agent. The two agents following managed to reach for their guns, but Sarah had already launched her own weapons. She caught the first one in his shoulder, leaving his gun arm hanging uselessly at his side. The second one she caught lower down and to the centre. Chuck winced.

"Just can't get decent help nowadays," growled a voice at Chuck's ear.

To give Chuck credit, he didn't quite scream like a little girl at the sight of Casey. That might have been because he was also trying to spin around, back away and keep his footing at the same time. He failed miserably at all three and collapsed on his ass in front of one of the scariest looking men he had ever seen. He tried to back away and keep an eye on him at the same time. But when Casey advanced after him, Chuck screamed, "Sarah!"

Sarah was already turning, her own gun at the ready. With her other hand, she reached for and grabbed Chuck by his shirt collar and dragged him out of reach of Casey. "Don't come any closer Casey or I'll shoot him," she said, holding her gun to Chuck's head.

"Er Sarah, I'm kind of freaking out here."

"Remember what I said earlier Chuck," she whispered.

"He belongs to the NSA Walker," replied Casey, aiming his gun at Sarah.

"CIA gets him first Casey."

"Yeah sure. But if you shoot him, I shoot you and Miller. I leave your bodies here, then I go for an early lunch. Hmmm, I'm thinking quiche," pondered Casey.

"You're joking right?" blurted Chuck.

"I never joke about quiche kid."

"I've a better idea. I shoot both of you, get Bartowski here to a DEA safe house and still have time to get ready for my date in a few hours," said Carina suddenly. She had a gun in each hand, pointing them at Sarah and Casey.

"Carina, what are you doing," hissed Sarah.

Carina's response was something Chuck didn't quite catch. Sarah's reply was equally incomprehensible. But he felt a sort of mental flicker, as if his brain was attempting to flash. Then it was gone.

"Guys, I enjoy a good Mexican stand off as much as the next guy, but can we talk about this?" queried Chuck. Chuck's reward for his attempted diplomacy was three deathly glares in his direction.

"Fine," Chuck muttered, "I'm only the guy with all your agencies secrets in my head. What would I know?"

"What did you say Bartowski?" snarled Casey, who was now pointing his gun directly at Chuck. He realised his mistake too late, as now Sarah and Carina had their guns pointing at him. Realising that he was outgunned, he placed his Sig Sauer on the ground slowly. "Turn around Casey. Arms behind your back", commanded Sarah. She took out a cable tie, quickly looped it around his wrists and pulled it tight enough to make Casey grunt. She then stuck her gun in his back. "Start walking. That's it Casey. Straight towards that dumpster marked Bennigans. There. Now get in."

"Just like Prague again, right Walker," sneered Casey.

"I told you before Casey, I had nothing to do with that. That was all Carina."

"And I suppose your rise through the CIA afterwards was all Carina as well? Don't bother answering that. I wouldn't expect amateurs like the CIA or DEA to have any honour."

"And I wouldn't expect an NSA agent to have any brains. Did you think we were going to be troubled by your gang of magnets in the car park? Don't bother answering that Agent Casey," snarked Sarah, giving him a shove into the dumpster and slamming down the lid. "I'll pass on your regards to Carina." She retrieved Casey's gun (after sniggering at the name 'Vera' engraved lovingly on the barrel) and she ran across the car park to catch up with Carina and Chuck.

~oOo~

Chuck was beginning to wonder just who he'd annoyed or screwed in his life. So far he'd experienced the following;

Parents vanished from his and Ellie's life without explanation: Check

Framed for exam cheating at Stanford after winning a top scholarship and aceing all his classes: Check

First (and only) serious girlfriend so far dumping him immediately afterwards: Check

Disappointing Ellie on a daily basis for the past five years: Check

Best friend dead: Check

Everything else that was happening so far today: Double Check

"Earth to Chuckie. Come in Chuckie."

"Carina, this is all a dream. I'm still at home, sleeping off a hangover. None of this is happening."

Carinas reply was to grab the fleshy part of Chucks arm and give it a hard pinch. "No, it's happening Chuckie," she replied.

"GAH! Have you gone crazy! Carina, what the hell!"

"Are you going to go all Bruce Lee on my ass again? You won't find it so easy a second time Bartowski," replied Carina going into a defensive stance.

"Krav Maga."

"Bless you."

"No," huffed Chuck. "You know, the self defence system."

"I know what Krav Maga is Chuck," sighed Carina. "Where did a geek like you learn it anyway?"

"From my brother in law. He learnt it when he was in the army. Now he's a qualified instructor and he taught my sister and me. And it's nerd by the way."

"Who's a qualified instructor Chuck?" asked Sarah, finally catching up with them.

Chuck didn't quite jump out of his skin, but it was a close thing. "My brother in law, Captain Awesome."

"What? Wait, you call him Captain Awesome," laughed Sarah.

There and then, Chuck thought that laugh was the best sound he had ever heard. He decided to see if he could get her to do it again.

"Everything Devon does is awesome - climbing mountains, jumping out of planes, trauma surgery. Flossing."

Success. But the laugh was now demoted to second place by a fit of giggling and a slightly unladylike snort when Sarah tried to catch her breath.

Carina rolled her eyes. "Sorry to be a third wheel lovebirds, but is that our extraction Walker?" said Carina, looking at a helicopter hovering above the retail park.

Sarah looked up, shielding her eyes. "No, that's NSA. Shit, Casey must have activated his emergency beacon. Chuck, you said you had an idea."

"I'm on it," replied Chuck. He pulled out his phone and held it to his ear.

"Morgan. It's Chuck. Listen, we have a pineapple situation."

"No I haven't even left the car park yet…. Yes' I'm still with the two supermodels as you call them….. No, I don't think I'll be free to put our names down for the Call of Duty Ghosts preliminary release…. Morgan can you delight me with your personal issues about our friendship some other time… Bros before what? … Yeah sure, first thing I'll tell them… Yes, that was sarcasm.

"Chuck," growled Sarah warningly.

"Just do it Morgan. Got to go."

"Pineapple?" queried Sarah raising one eyebrow.

"Morgan and I are the fire and safety wardens for the mall. That's our code for an emergency evacuation in case of a gas leak. Et Voila."

Carina and Sarah turned to see the shops spread around the perimeter begin to empty of all their customers. Within 30 seconds, the car park was crammed.

"Nice going Bartowski. But all NSA choppers have facial recognition software installed. They'll find us anyway," said Carina.

"Oh ye of little faith. Time for phase two of my cunning plan," replied Chuck. He pulled out his key ring and went through the keys until he found the one he was looking for. "Follow me ladies." Chuck brought them around to one of the delivery areas until he came to a steel door with a sign on it saying 'Lou's Gourmet Italian Deli'. "Lucky for us, I got connections," he grinned as he opened the door.

When Sarah and Carina followed him, they found themselves behind the serving area of the now empty delicatessen. Carina took an appreciative look around. "I am so coming back here at some stage," she declared. "That pastrami smells delicious. Beats the hell out of Subway."

"Chuck, why is there a sandwich named after you on the menu board?" asked Sarah.

For some reason, Chuck found himself a little reluctant to answer. He couldn't quite fathom the look Sarah was giving him. "Well, we sort of dated once or twice some years ago. It was after Stanford when I was kicked out for supposedly stealing exam papers. But we decided we were better off just being friends."

"Did you? Steal the exams, I mean?" asked Sarah.

Chuck looked askance at her. "I thought it was kind of implied that I'm a decent person!"

"Well, we all make mistakes," replied a flustered Sarah.

"Sure Sarah. And I've made plenty; that just wasn't one of them. Bryce was the only one who stood by me at the time. Then last night he sent me a whole database of government secrets that are now locked in my brain, keeping me in a constant state of danger, fear, danger, anxiety and terror. Oh, and did I also mention danger?"

"Why you Bartowski?" interjected Carina. "Why would Larkin send it to you of all people?"

"How would I know?! He was my best friend and I didn't even know he was a spy!" protested Chuck.

"We're wasting time Carina. Chuck, where do we go from here?" asked Sarah.

"Okay the Buymore is next door. Under the Buy More and Lou's, there's an old underground car park that was never finished. Lou and I found it after the builders broke through her basement store wall accidently. But if we can go through that staff entrance there, it leads us to the room where the stairs to the basement is."

"What were the two of you doing down there in the first place Chuck?" asked Sarah. And there's that look again, thought Chuck. He was saved by the last person he would have expected.

"Geez Walker, use your imagination!" snapped Carina. "Chuck, why didn't she get it repaired?" she continued.

"She kind of uses the space beyond it as an overflow storage area," Chuck replied guiltily.

"Storage area. Yeah, got it stud."

Chuck didn't want to reveal that it was where Lou kept her ingredients that didn't come in by the official legal channels. "Anyway, I decided to come through here in case there's anyone still in the Buymore. The abandoned car park links to service tunnels that connect up to the underground car park used by Burton Enterprises building and DC Comics." The second name got him a blank look from both women. "They do Superman and Batman? Justice League?" tried Chuck again.

"Oh yeah," replied Sarah. "Didn't they do Iron Man and the Avengers as well?"

"Don't forget the Waking Dead and Thor," added Carina.

"Oh! I loved the guy who played Fandral in the last Thor movie."

"So that's why you dragged me to that when I was last in town?"

Chuck tried not to cringe. Inwardly he was screaming. "Actually those are three different universes. Although there have been crossovers which are very rare and valuable and now I see I've lost you both completely."

"I bet you go to all the Star Wars conventions Chuck, trying to get Captain Kirks autograph," said Sarah, throwing a wink at Carina that Chuck was oblivious to.

Oh dear God, thought Chuck, turning to face her. Calm centre. They don't know any better. They don't know any better.

"So Chuck how does the douche bag league headquarters help us get away from Casey," asked Carina.

"It's Justice League!" shouted Chuck.

"The Nerd is strong with this one Sarah."

"But is he the nerd we are looking for Carina? We must be cautious."

Chuck looked from one to the other. When he picked his jaw off the floor, he spluttered, "Did you two just completely mangle lines from Star Wars?"

"Well we're more Lord of the Rings aficionados," laughed Carina. "We use Elvish sometimes when we're on a mission if we think people have us bugged. You probably heard us earlier."

"This is too precious! You're Lord of the Rings geeks!" sniggered Chuck

"We are not! Besides, Star Wars and Star Trek is for geeks," added Sarah.

"Says the woman who learnt Elvish" replied Chuck, smirking.

"Oh yeah! Well I bet you're a fluent Klingon speaker," countered Sarah. Chuck felt his face go crimson. "Oh my God, you are! That is just adorable."

While Chuck stuttered and tried (and failed) to prepare a devastating comeback that didn't entail two armed female agents shooting off any of his important bits (or any bits at all if possible), something caught his attention. "Get down guys, its Morgan," said Chuck suddenly.

"What is that idiot doing?" whispered Carina when they retreated and crouched down behind the counter.

"Well, being a fire warden is a very serious responsibility. He has to make sure all the shops are completely emptied," replied Chuck as if he was speaking to the slow child of the family.

Carina took a deep breath to restrain herself. "Yeah, but what is Martin actually doing?"

"It's Morgan, Carina," said Chuck in the tone you use when the slow child is on your last nerve. He snuck another look over the counter. And groaned. Morgan had a high visibility vest on and was carrying a completely un-necessary torch. Every now and again, he would pass at a shop entrance and strike a kung fu pose. Very badly. "Don't look this way. Don't look this way," murmured Chuck.

Naturally, Morgan looked their way. From his position, Chuck willed him to turn his head and keep walking. His prayers were not answered. Which didn't surprise him in the least. Morgan made a beeline straight towards Lou's, probably to stock up on lunches for the week. Oh crap, thought Chuck.

_Meanwhile back at the dumpster._

Casey regained consciousness, lying on his side on top of bags that seemed to contain what smelt like the entire contents of the bathroom bins of the mall. He was pretty sure that it was going to be a waste of time getting his one Armani suit dry cleaned. He decided to test his bonds, but Sarah had him secured so tightly that breaking one or both of his thumbs, or even dislocating one was out of the question. He was momentarily glad of that, as his left one still hurt on cold mornings. Then he remembered that his cigar lighter was in his back trousers pocket.

Moving his bound hands carefully, he managed to open the button and fish it out. He flicked up the cap and got it to light on the third try. Holding it in position was tricky to melt the cable tie, but he had experienced worse than melted plastic in Iraq and Afghanistan. Libya came close however. Two miserable months back in the late eighties, hiding in the walls of Gadhafi's Tripoli residence trying to assassinate him. He had never come across a bigger douche in his life. If it hadn't been for Saddam's little escapade in Kuwait, he could have been there at a lot longer. At least in Kuwait, he got some gunplay in.

He felt the cable tie begin to melt and give way on his wrist.

~oOo~

Despite his less than stellar day so far (although he had to admit the last few minutes had been kind of fun), Chuck desperately prayed for a distraction, any distraction to stop Morgan coming any closer to Lou's. Surprisingly, he got one.

Lou's was directly opposite one of the internal entrances to the Large Mart. An olive skinned, bald man came out of the entrance holding several bags, one of which he dropped with a loud bang. Morgan's head swivelled around at the sound. With a visible effort, he turned the rest of his body and walked over to where the stray shopper was trying to pick up his shopping, while still trying to hold onto the rest of his purchases. "I'm sorry Sir, but you have to leave, there's a gas leak and the entire mall has been evacuated," stated Morgan.

"I'm terribly sorry Sir, I left one of my bags behind and went back to look for it," replied the man in an accent Chuck couldn't place. But a split second later, Chuck flashed.

_An analogue recording of a satellite phone conversation from Namibia from dated Dec 1986_

_Vincent Smith_

_A recent voice recording from the Prague Hilton requesting blue prints and floor plans of Best Western Burbank_

_Vincent Smith_

_An acceptance letter from POTUS for the I.T. start-up business awards sponsored by Burton Enterprises to be held 20.11.13 in Best Western Burbank_

_Schematics of a micro detonation device fitted to a lap top processor intercepted by the CIA in the Prague Hilton_

_Vincent Smith_

_A DEA memo naming last known location of Vincent Smith as California._

_A Daily Namibian newspaper clipping of a demolished township, now the site of Burton Enterprises regional HQ._

"That's Vincent Smith," stated Chuck.

"What?!" snapped Carina and Sarah simultaneously. "How do you know that? There's no known photographs of him?" queried Sarah sceptically.

"You better be sure Bartowski. That's my date for tonight," replied Carina. When Chuck and Sarah swung their heads to look at her in astonishment, she just said, "What? It's not a 'date' date! I've seen him in Gaez's company. I got close to him, gained his confidence (I bet you did muttered Sarah) and we're sharing a table with Gaez and his wife tonight at this award ceremony thingy. He told me his name was Arnold something or other."

"Well, it seems the Intersect works with auditory stimuli as well," groaned Chuck feeling his headache come back with a vengeance. "But that's not important. If I've interpreted the flash correctly, he's going to bomb the hotel tonight where the President and Jack Burton are hosting the award 'thingy'." Before the stunned agents could question him further, they were interrupted by the sight of about half a dozen men, dressed in black combat gear and armed to the teeth, led by Casey. They surrounded Morgan and Smith.

Casey flashed his ID at both of them. "We have a report that three terrorist suspects are hiding out in the mall. Either of you know anything about that?"

Morgan drew himself up to his full height. He still had to strain his neck to look Casey in the eye. "I think you're mistaken. We had a report of a gas leak and that's why the mall has been evacuated."

Casey regarded him coldly. He pulled out his mobile and shoved it into Morgan's face. "Are you telling me you haven't seen these three in the mall while you've been in here?"

"No Sir, haven't seen them," stuttered Morgan.

"You sure?" growled Casey, leaning down to look Morgan in the eye. "We have footage of them entering the mall by a side entrance in this general area only a few minutes ago."

"No," squeaked Morgan. "I mean yes, I'm sure. I haven't seen them."

Casey turned to Smith. "What about you? Have you seen anything suspicious?" Smith didn't answer. "Cat got your tongue or something?"

"I'm very sorry, I just haven't been this close to guns before. They make me nervous," he replied in a trembling voice. "I just came back to pick a bag I left behind as I told this gentleman here."

"You two, get them out of here," snarled a disgusted Casey. "The rest of you, start checking over there near the Large Mart and work your way along that side. I'll start with the deli over here."

"Walker, take Chuck out of here. I'll deal with Casey."

"Yeah, I bet you will."

"You know he doesn't stand a chance right," smirked Carina opening a button of her top. "Don't worry Chuckie, I'm sure you won't see anything you haven't seen before."

"Actually Carina, you're right," Sarah suddenly decided. "Chuck, I'll meet you downstairs."

"But Sarah…..,"began Chuck.

Sarah turned to glare at him. "Not now Chuck, I'm talking to my partner!"

"Going downstairs now."

When Chuck left, Sarah turned to Carina. "You don't need to do this."

"Look Sarah, you know what the NSA will do to him if they get their hands on him. They'll lock him up in a bunker somewhere and he'll never see daylight again. I've no idea how that thing in his head works, but one way or another Beckman will have him sanctioned when he's outlived his usefulness. He stands a better chance with your boss."

"I suppose," replied Sarah doubtfully.

"You know I'm right. Now go."

Sarah turned and half crouched/sprinted towards the door Chuck had left through. She was about to go through it when Carina called out, "Walker. One more thing. Green looks good on you."

Sarah's only response before slipping through the door was to flip Carina the bird.

_A/N 23.11.13_

_Thank you for reading and I'd be grateful if you could post a review. Next update in 7 days._


	5. Chapter 5 Getting to know you

_Thanks again to all of you who are following favoriting and reviewing this story. It surprises me that some people are interested in my scribbles still, even after 4 chapters, so I'm going to keep going and trying to figure out what it is I'm doing right._

_With this chapter, we'll be over halfway through the story, so still on target to finish by Christmas 2013._

_I would like to point out that I don't own Chuck, so the rumours are just that. Rumours._

_Please read and review. Reviews, PMs Etc. are the only way I know that I'm on the right (or wrong) track._

Chapter 5: _Getting to know you_

"Casey secure."

"Beckman secure. Major, why do I have three agents in the L.A. county hospital and one of our choppers on the afternoon news? Did you not link up with Agent Walker as per my orders?"

"We were attacked by Walker and Miller when we attempted to secure the mark General."

Beckman sighed at the other end of the line. "I should have known your vendetta against Walker and Miller would mess this up. It's done Casey. I want you in the air in an hour."

"I can fix this General. Just give me a few more hours."

"You're on your own on this one Casey. I can't help you if something goes wrong," replied Beckman, before she cut the connection.

"Roger that," grunted Casey.

~oOo~

_Lou's Deli_

"Administrator secure."

"Miller secure. Sir, we have a Code Eagle."

"Clarify, Agent Miller."

"You're aware of the break in at DNI intelligence headquarters last night I take it Sir?"

"That is classified intelligence Agent Miller and above your clearance level. But yes, I believe from my briefing this morning and contacts from my own time in the CIA, that the NSA and CIA have sent agents to retrieve the intelligence. Why are you querying this? "

"I am currently liaising with my CIA contact to help retrieve and secure said intelligence Sir. I have learnt that a lot, if not all of our own intelligence was included in the information dump that Agent Larkin initiated last night. "

"You're liaising with Agent Walker, I take it?"

"Yes Sir. But we are in a spot of a bother with the NSA agent. Agent Walker is attempting to secure the mark while I deal with Agent Casey of the NSA."

"Where is the data at the moment Agent Miller? I'm going to contact the other two agency heads as this could be very helpful in our future dealings with them. What steps have you taken to secure the intelligence?"

"That's where things get a little complicated Sir. From my own experience with the mark earlier, it seems that somehow, he has all the intelligence in his head. Oh, Agent Casey has just arrived. I'll delay him until we hear back from you. But rest assured, I can catch up with Walker and the mark anytime I want."

~oOo~

Sarah picked her steps carefully as she descended the store room stairs. There was no sign of Chuck. Sighing to herself, she pulled out a torch from her bag and shone it around the room. There was no sign of him in the storeroom itself which was full of wooden crates, large boxes of ingredients and some fridges.

She noticed one of the fridges was at an angle as if it had been pulled away from the wall. Investigating it a little closer, she found that there was a large hole in the wall behind it where the breeze was coming from. She shivered, wishing she had something warmer than the two piece business suit she was wearing. She squeezed around the back of the fridge and stepped through into a large cavern like space that she guessed was the underground car park Chuck had been talking about earlier. It was even colder in here and she felt her teeth begin to chatter. There was some emergency lighting installed and she spotted Chuck sitting against one of the support pillars. He looked up and greeted her with the same smile that he gave her when they first met in the Buymore.

Sarah realised that she had already broken in letter and spirit, Rule 49A with regard to the handling and control of marks. Marks were to be brought under control until their usefulness or lack of was ascertained. Only the appearance of empathy and friendship was allowed, in order to gain their confidence. If a mark had some useful abilities or connections, they became an asset which was then covered by Rule 49B. Many a promising agent had got into compromising incidents and associations with their assets and destroyed their careers as a result. Sarah had known one or two that she trained with, who were no longer with the agency for that reason. She was the one Montgomery entrusted with those 49B cases and she did not let prior friendships get in the way of her decisions.

She was well aware of what people in the agency called her behind her back. A soul-less robot, the Ice Queen and Montgomery's enforcer were the politest ones.

"Where are we going from here Bartowski," she asked coldly. She regretted it instantly as the smile dropped from Chuck's face to be replaced by a look of hurt and confusion.

"Follow me," he mumbled and turned to walk away.

"Hold it right there," she replied in the same cold manner. "Tell me exactly where we're going first."

"You told me to trust you," snapped Chuck. "I'm asking the same in return."

"I'm here because I have a job to do Chuck. That doesn't mean I take unnecessary risks."

"What, like kissing the 'asset'? That's what you call the likes of me isn't it?"

"It happened, it was a mistake. One I won't make again. Now tell me where we're going," demanded Sarah, reaching behind where she had tucked her gun.

Chuck was going to protest further, but he decided it wasn't worth the trouble. "Well if we take that door over there," he said pointing over his shoulder "that leads us to a fire corridor that extends to the underground car park built for DC comics. There's a similar fire corridor there that leads us to the car park used by Burton Enterprises. From there we can get the lift up to the shopping mall that's on the ground floor of that building. Is that acceptable to you Agent Walker or whatever your name is today?" spat Chuck.

Inwardly Sarah flinched. Instead of the anger she normally felt with an uppity mark, she felt more like she had been struck across the face. Outwardly, she kept composed. "That's fine Mister Bartowski, lead the way. But I'm not letting you out of my sight."

"Lucky me," muttered Chuck.

Before he knew what hit him, Chuck found himself flat on his back on the ground from a kick to the chest he never saw coming. He was then pulled to his feet and slammed against one of the supporting pillars with both arms restrained behind his back. "Look Bartowski, I have had it with you! I didn't ask you to believe me, I asked you to trust me. Bryce Larkin, your best friend, betrayed everything that I believed in. Right now, you are a very short step away from a one way plane trip to Washington. And you do not want that to happen, Chuck. That, you should trust me on. Are we clear?" growled Sarah into his ear.

"Crystal," Chuck managed to gasp.

"Good. Then lead the way."

~oOo~

_Lou's Gourmet Italian Deli._

Casey approached the deli carefully, his Sig Sauer at the ready. He spotted the unmistakable silhouette of Carina behind the counter and braced himself for an attack. He couldn't see a sign of Sarah or Chuck, so he stopped at the entrance and aimed his gun at Carina, who had her head down.

"Hands where I can see them Miller." He then noticed a smell of brewed coffee with a slightly burnt aroma.

"Hello to you too John," replied Carina looking up. "Do you still take your coffee black and bitter?"

Casey looked at Carina as if she had sprouted another head. "I'll take that as a yes," smirked Carina. "I'm having the same. And it seems a shame to let this pastrami go to waste, so I've made us a few sandwiches while we talk," she continued. She brought the coffee and sandwiches to a table and sat down. "Take a seat Casey, I'm not going anywhere."

Casey stepped into the deli and threw a practiced eye over the seating area and behind the counter. Once he was satisfied she was alone, he sat at the same table opposite her.

"It's been a while Sugar Bear."

"You lost any right to call me that when you faked your death in Prague Miller."

"It was unavoidable John. My cover was blown. I couldn't go back for you and Sarah. Both of you would have been killed as well. Somehow Alahi was onto me and by extension you. I barely escaped with my life."

"And Alahi's diamond."

"Well you hardly expected me to leave that behind," scoffed Carina.

"You and Walker left me in the lurch. It took my own agency a week to find and rescue me. Do you expect me to forget that?"

"Sarah was badly wounded in the surveillance van outside on the street when Alahi bombed the hotel I was in. It's not like she could have done much from her bed in Intensive Care. Even when she woke up, she had short term memory loss from the head injury. You can leave Sarah out of this. It's me you're mad at."

"Besides," continued Carina, "If it's any consolation John, she wasn't as thrilled as I expected, when she learnt I was alive. We were close from when we were babies. Our friendship has never really recovered from Prague."

"Sorry for your troubles," grunted Casey not sounding sorry in the slightest. "But I suppose I can understand Walkers situation, presuming you're telling the truth. But you couldn't even let me, your own partner, know you were alive. I had to find out when I was paired with you on a joint NSA/DEA mission in Argentina. Two fucking years later!" said Casey who was shouting at this stage.

"Like you haven't done anything remotely similar," replied Carina.

"Don't even go there Miller," said Casey dangerously.

"Whatever you say. 'Alex.'

Casey pulled his gun and pointed it at Carina in one smooth movement. "I've had enough of this. Tell me where Walker and the geek are. Now!"

Casey suddenly felt something tapping against the inside of his knees. Something he realised was metallic, gun barrel shaped and aimed straight at some very body parts that he was very attached to.

"Like I said John, I just want to talk. So stay seated, finish your coffee and we'll try and sort things out. Besides, we can expect a call from your boss and mine shortly."

"What about Walker and the Bartowski geek? I still need to locate them."

Carina pulled out her phone and scrolled through a few screens, before turning back to Casey. "Walker still has the DEA issue phone she was using yesterday on my Gaez mission. I'm tracking that as we speak, so we can meet up later." Casey's own phone began to vibrate in his pocket. Looking at the screen, he saw it was one of Beckman's encrypted lines. There was a short text giving a location and some terse instructions.

"Ok Miller, we have to report to the local CIA substation at 17:00 hours. The three agency bosses want to talk to all of us. Bartowski is to be retrieved and secured at the same location as well until they decide what to do with him."

Carina drained the last of her coffee and looked at the time on her phone. "That only gives us a couple of hours. Let's go and pick them up."

~oOo~

_Location; the car park outside the Buymore_

"Emmet, Big Mike is on my phone for you."

"What? Why is he ringing you Grimes?"

"He couldn't get a hold of Chuck, so he rang me. I told him you let him home sick, because Moses Finkelstein's daughter said so and he got really mad."

"No, I mean why didn't he ring me directly? I'm the assistant manager here, not Bartowski."

"Only because Chuck backed out at the last minute," muttered Morgan.

"I heard that Grimes! Give me your phone. Hello Michael, how nice of you to call me. How is your seminar going?"

"Milbarge! What the hell is Grimes talking about? Where's Bartowski?"

"Just fine Michael, thanks. I let Mr Bartowski leave earlier as Ms Finkelstein, the daughter of our illustrious founder taught he looked a little unwell."

"What are you talking about, you moron? Moses is a lifelong bachelor. He has no family except the Buymore!"

Milbarge went pale. "But she said she was trying to secure an account for the Orange Orange for her friend who was the regional manager."

"Geez, Milbarge do you even have the brains you were born with? That's all done at corporate level. I knew I should picked Bartowski for my ass man. Moses is here with me now and wants to know why he's looking at a government black chopper on the roof of the Buymore and a mass exodus from the mall. "

Milbarge saw a glimmer of hope in the situation. "It seems that was Bartowski was the instigator of that Michael. There was an alarm raised by him that turned out to be false. The emergency services are not happy and Grimes told me there were some police or Homeland Security types looking for him. They seem to think he's a terrorist of some kind."

Milbarge heard Big Mike speaking to someone in the background. When he came back on the line, he sounded like a defeated man.

"Moses has heard enough Milbarge. Bartowski is to be fired if he sets foot in the Buymore again."

"Certainly Michael, I'll look after that," grinned Milbarge. "I'll let you get back to your 'seminar'." With Bartowski out of the way, there's nothing stopping me from easing you out next Michael, thought Milbarge.

~oOo~

_Beneath DC comics new building_

There was a distinct chill in the air that Chuck was sure wasn't entirely due to the cold. He was confused at the mixed signals he was getting from Sarah all day. Right now, those signals were very much of the don't-mess-with-me type as she followed close behind him, her gun held at the ready. At least it wasn't pointing at him, he thought. Yet, was the less comforting thought that followed. His head was still hurting after the last flash and his stomach growled loud enough that he knew Sarah must have heard it. She did not respond.

There was more and better lighting where they were and it showed up the murals that had been painted on the walls, of famous DC comics panels. Despite the pant wettingly scary agent behind him, Chuck was entranced. To Sarah's astonishment, she saw Chuck run from painting to painting, pure delight on his face.

"This is the coolest thing ever. Look Sarah!" He ran back to her, grabbed her by the hand and dragged her after him. She could very easily have stopped him, but she found that she didn't want to. Listening to his infectious rambling about the famous panels each mural was based on, she realised that whatever else Chuck was, there was no way he was a danger to or enemy of the state. She was saddened at the thought of what Bryce had done to him and the potential danger he had placed Chuck in. She promised herself, despite the agent screaming in her head, that she was going to protect him at all costs.

Chuck looked and gave her a rueful smile, which quickly turned to a frown of concern.

"Sarah! Your hands are freezing."

"Well, I wasn't expecting to end up in an underground car park trying to protect you."

"Here," said Chuck taking off the Buymore jacket he was wearing. "Put this on."

"I can't take this Chuck. You're only going to be cold as well."

"Nonsense, you can't "protect" me if you turn into an icicle. I won't take no for an answer," he smiled as he draped it around her shoulders.

Sarah was going to insist, but the jacket felt too cosy and she found herself slipping her arms into the sleeves and pulling the zip up. Chucks smile if anything got bigger and Sarah found herself grinning back at him. She wondered if she could get him to keep smiling like at her like that. The agent part of her mind recoiled in horror at the idea. The rest of her mind told the agent to take a long walk off a short pier.

"So what do you think?" asked Chuck as if he had painted the murals himself.

"I'm more of a Marvel girl myself," replied Sarah.

Chuck gaped at her. "I cannot have that. When we get this whole government secrets in my head thing sorted out, I will personally take charge of your comics re-education Agent Walker," he said in a faux serious voice.

"You goof," she laughed, playfully bumping his shoulder with hers. "And how do you know Mr Bartowski, that you will be the one that's doing the re-educating," she said in a sultry voice while batting her eyes at him.

Chucks brain froze for the second time that day. It remained that way until he realised Sarah had pulled him along with her to the next car park, beneath Burton Enterprises and was trying to grab his attention.

"Chuck, where's the lift up?"

Chuck mentally shook himself from his stupor. "Just over there," he pointed. "You know," he continued, "this was the sort of place I imagined myself working in when I had qualified from Stanford."

"Where, this shopping mall?" asked Sarah mischievously.

"Har de har Walker. I mean for Burton Enterprises. I mean, the man is a genius. He's behind practically all the great technological innovations of the last ten years. His computer systems are state of the art secure and he's as big a philanthropist as he is a businessman. You know, they say he's so rich that he could buy the national debt and not notice the loss."

"That impresses you Chuck?"

"Hell no. I couldn't care less about his fortune. It's the research and development into future technologies I'm fascinated with. I'd work there for nothing."

Sarah's heart sank within her. She was pretty sure Chuck holding down any sort of job was unlikely in the future. Her train of thought was interrupted by the vibration of what she realised was the DEA issued phone in her pocket. Cursing herself for such an amateurish mistake, she whipped it out. Chuck glanced over her shoulder at the screen and flashed at the string of digits that appeared above the message.

"That's your boss, Roan Montgomery. That sequence of numbers means he wants to you bring me in. Sarah I can't. I don't want to disappear. Not like this. It'll kill my sister. Our parents already did this to us!"

"It's okay Chuck. I understand and I won't let anything happen to you," promised Sarah.

"You can't possibly understand unless you've been through it!" said Chuck starting to hyperventilate.

"Chuck, breath," replied Sarah grabbing his hands. "I understand. My father disappeared before I was born. My mother was always away working to provide for us while my grandmother looked after me. She was killed on a trip to the Ukraine and I never got to go to her funeral. The only friend I had growing up was Carina. She was always there, the sort of friend who had the same interests as me. We were the nerdy girls with specs and braces who loved Lord of the Rings, learnt three dialects of Elvish, played Zork, wished we could attend Comic Con and defended each other against the cheer leaders. Did you have a friend like that growing up?"

Chuck looked at Sarah as if he was really seeing her for the first time. "Look, Sarah I don't have parents. And I don't usually talk about it because that's just the way that things are now. But it wasn't always this way. Morgan was there the first day that my mom took off. He didn't say much because, honestly, what is a fifth grader supposed to say? But we sat there and split a cherry cheesecake and played Legend of Zelda all night long. And my dad? Well, that's a whole other story, but Morgan was there for that, too. Morgan is more than just my best friend. He's my family. But I see you do understand. So I trust you. And thank you," said Chuck pulling her into an embrace.

"Thank you too Chuck," replied Sarah. "Anyway, you didn't see all the message. Our bosses want to see all four of us at 5:00. They want to know how you identified Vincent Smith when the best analysts in three agencies have never been able to."

"Can I get something to eat first, I'm feeling a bit light-headed? And this hangover seems to get worse every time I flash."

Sarah frowned in concern. "You are looking very pale. We have medical facilities where we're bringing you for the meeting, so I'll call ahead to have a doctor ready to see you when we arrive."

"Sarah, do you think they could remove this thing from my head?"

"One mission at a time Chuck. Let's go, Casey and Carina are waiting for us."

_A/N 30.11.2013. Over half way there and I hope those who followed so far are still happy. A new chapter will be published in 7 days. I have the next chapter half done and while I have a definite ending laid out for this story, it will also lead into the second story set in this particular Chuck universe. The provisional title for this is Chuck vs. The Search for Orion._

_Thank you for reading._


	6. Carmichael Charles Carmichael

_Thank you all again for your kind reviews PMs and follows. I am really glad that all of you are enjoying what will be my first finished fanfic. I will also be resuming my other fanfic Sarah vs. the Dark Passenger next week and hope to have the next chapter posted by 15/12/2013_

_I don't own Chuck or any other trademarked item referred to in this fanfic. Pity. Any resemblance to any characters living or dead blah blah blah etc._

_Currently re-reading: Chuck and Sarah vs. Themselves by Ninjavanish_

_Currently started: Tides of War by bigfan22_

_Anxiously awaiting updates on_

_Chuck VS Life, Love & Lies by uplink2_

_It's a wonderful cover life by Kate McK_

_Two sides of the same coin by Dettiot_

_Chuck vs. the Steampunk Chronicles by _

_Also currently trying not to be green with envy at the better authors above. Read them and send reviews. _

Chapter 6 of 9

_Carmichael. Charles Carmichael._

Chuck was starting to feel a little under the weather. He had been up most of the previous 48 hours with a double shift at the Buymore, the last arrangements for his sister's wedding, the wedding itself and the morning hangover was now extending well into the afternoon for him. He was sure that if he flashed one more time, he was going to collapse. Sarah and he took the lift from the car park beneath Burton Enterprises to the ground level of the mall to be met by Carina when the lift doors opened. She took one look at the state of Chuck and at Sarah in Chuck's Buymore jacket and smirked. Again. Chuck was starting to seriously dislike Carina.

"Don't say a word Carina," warned Sarah.

"What?" replied Carina with a very innocent look. Or as innocent as she could manage anyway.

"Chuck needs a doctor, he's not feeling too good."

"Well, he does look like death warmed over. What have you two been up to anyway?"

"Carina!"

"Fine, you can fill me in on the details later. Just between us girls." Smirk.

When they went to exit the via the revolving doors that lead out to the surface car park, Sarah timed her shoulder bump so that Carina almost didn't trip through them. Chuck almost didn't laugh.

~oOo~

Casey was waiting impatiently for them beside his car.

"Nice car Casey. Very ….shiny", said Chuck running his fingers over the roof.

Casey's eyes narrowed. "Not just any car numbnuts. It's a 1985 Crown Victoria. Get your geek hands off her." He grabbed Chuck by the scruff of the neck, leaving him dangling on tip-toe. "But, like a lady, she doesn't like it when I talk about her age. And I don't appreciate other men trying to get handsy with my lady."

"I'm not really a car guy, so I don't really... Pretty, pretty shiny, though," Chuck managed to choke out.

"Oh, yeah, she's shiny," replied Casey wistfully. "She also has 4.6 V8 engine, hydra glide transmission and a re-upholstered prisoner containment area," he continued, opening the back door and tossing Chuck inside said area. "I've even installed a state of the art GPS tracking system in the license plate. I can locate this lady anywhere in the world in less than a minute. It's great." He rubbed his hand lovingly over the door frame one last time.

"I wonder did he ever talk about me like that," whispered Carina to Sarah. Sarah managed to keep a straight face. Just about.

"Walker, you're in the back with the geek. Miller, you're with up front, shotgun. Let's go."

Chuck had managed to get himself seated on the left hand side. "Seatbelts everyone," grunted Casey. He shot the car forward, slamming Chuck's face into the metal grill.

"Casey, you jackass! What the hell!" shouted Sarah who had managed to brace herself. "Chuck, are you okay?"

"Don't have time for your lady feelings now Walker. Buckle the geek up if he can't do it himself, I didn't bring a child seat. "

"I'm fine Sarah," Chuck replied holding his forehead. He glared at Casey in the rear view mirror, who merely glared back while somehow still managing to keep the car on his own side of the road. And duck and weave through traffic.

The rest of the drive passed in silence. A slightly terrified one on Chuck's part. Even when Casey wasn't looking, he could still feel him glaring at him. To think, he thought that I could have been in the Hole today. Or perhaps scrubbing the toilets. Even if that toilet was Jeff's 'office'. A quick sideways glance at Sarah though and he felt that maybe the day hadn't been all bad. He looked away again before she caught him.

A waste of time if he only knew, as Sarah was perfectly aware of every glance Chuck threw in her direction. It didn't bother her in the normal sense, as she had was used to being looked at. Just not the way Chuck did. It wasn't shyness or blatant lechery which she could have dealt with. It was more like he was in awe of her. And that she didn't know how to deal with.

~oOo~

After driving through the streets of Burbank, Casey pulled up outside the railway station. He pulled into the car park and they came to a stop beside a side entrance of the building. Once they'd all got out, Casey secured the Vic with what looked like a bomb detonator to Chuck. He then took out a card and ran it through a swipe slot. The door opened and he guided the other three in (Chuck a little more roughly than Carina or Sarah) before closing the door again.

Sarah led the way from there, keeping Chuck beside her and as far from Casey as possible. Carina seemed to have the same idea and kept herself between them and Casey, forcing him to bring up the rear. They came to a lift with a control panel that had an image of a palm print on the display screen. Sarah held her palm up to it, while it flashed through a series of photos too quick for the eye to register. In a matter of seconds, it stopped on a picture of Sarah with the caption 'Authorised CIA employee.' She indicated to Chuck to do the same. When he put his own palm against the panel, the panel flashed back "Temporary access granted."

"Casey, Carina you can follow us down," stated Sarah over her shoulder, despite the fact that there was ample room for the four of them.

Any protest they were thinking of making died on their lips, when they heard the tone of Sarah's voice. Chuck felt a little afraid himself. It seemed she could do the Casey glare and tone as well. Probably something they learnt in spy school, thought Chuck. As long as she doesn't grunt like him too.

But he was glad not to share a confined space with Casey. Of course, sharing it with Sarah had its own disadvantages as well. While he noticed that she still looked as fresh as when he met her that morning, he noticed in the mirror panels of the lift that he wasn't so lucky. He had big bags under his eyes and his hair was a pure melange of what his sister called funny animal shapes. He tried to surreptitiously fix it, but ended up making it worse. He noticed Sarah watching him in the mirror and looking away with a small grin on her face.

"Thanks for saving me from the cold. I appreciated the jacket," she smiled, handing it back to him.

"You're welcome. Thanks for treating me as a person. Even despite the kicking and arm twisting and stuff," grinned Chuck.

"You were a being a jerk. And anyway," continued Sarah, "I went easy on you." She was suddenly right up against Chuck who at this stage had backed himself into a corner. She reached out and grabbed his tie with her left hand. Before he could do anything, she straightened the knot of his tie with her other hand and brushed lint of his shoulders.

They arrived at their destination, about four or five floors down directly into a non-descript open plan office area. Chuck noticed about a dozen people at desks and there were additional offices scattered around the area. A sudden flash let him know that the area he could see was merely a small part of the whole complex.

"Welcome to the Keep Chuck. This is the main CIA/NSA substation for the west coast. It has over 50 agents based here, its own power supply, sleeping quarters, conference rooms and holding cells. It also has its own medical facilities, mainframe, secure communications and enough food and water stored to last 6 months."

"How long has this been here?" he gasped bracing himself beside a water cooler.

"It was built originally for the CIA's predecessor, the OSS and extended over the years. After 9/11, we started to share it with the NSA.

Sarah was interrupted by a woman with short brunette hair, dressed in medical scrubs. "Excuse me, Agent Walker? I'm the doctor on call, Hannah Zarnow. We got a call that you were bringing someone in for a check-up."

"Yes Doctor, we'll be with you very shortly. Can you give us a few minutes?"

"No problem," she smiled. "I'm ready whenever you are."

When she had gone, Sarah turned to Chuck. "Listen Chuck, for the moment you cannot tell anyone who you are or that you have the Intersect data in your head. The only people that currently know that are the heads of the DEA, NSA and CIA in addition to three of us and you.

"Okay. Is there any particular reason why I can't give my name, because I'm not at my best and brightest here Sarah?"

"It's for your own protection. The secrets in your head are incredibly important Chuck. The less people know who you are, the safer you will be. I'll be with you most of the time, but at the very least, you'll have to give a false name if asked by anyone here other than those people I've already mentioned."

"That seems a little much Sarah."

Sarah sighed. "Come on Chuck. Do you still think after everything today, my name is really Sarah Walker?"

"But… okay," replied Chuck remembering her file. He was crushed. "Can I at least pick my own fake name?"

"Of course, Mr…." she replied, prompting him.

"Carmichael. Charles Carmichael. A pleasure to meet you Ms Walker," smiled Chuck in a dreadful faux Sean Connery accent.

"Nice to meet you Mr Carmichael," replied Sarah coquettishly and in a much better English accent. "You came up with that pretty quickly. Where did that come from?"

"From playing with Morgan when we were kids. We'd pretend to be secret agents or mercenaries for hire. He used to call himself Cobra." Cue a very puzzled look from Sarah.

"You know what, doesn't matter. This was all before we discovered video games anyway."

"Sure," drawled Sarah, "because that makes it better."

~oOo~

"Oh my God, that's a very big needle!"

Zarnow sighed. "Look Mr Carmichael, you won't even notice it. It's just to replenish those lost electrolytes and rehydrate you." She looked pleadingly at Sarah.

"Mr Carmichael, it's okay. Really."

Chuck looked at her pleadingly. "I don't like needles Sarah. I never have." He didn't notice the surreptitious signal she gave Zarnow. "Mr Carmichael. Charles, look at me," she said, taking his face in her hands and blocking his view of Zarnow. "It's going to be fine."

"Okay, if you say so OW! Hey that was sneeeeeeeeeeeeaky."

"Fast acting sedative. He looks like he could do with it," grinned Hannah. "Thanks for the distraction, Agent Walker."

"No problem," replied Sarah grinning in return.

"Pretty," said Chuck dreamily, his hands suddenly wrapped around a strand of Sarah's hair.

Sarah gently removed his hand. "Relax Mr Carmichael. I'm not going too far."

"Okay. Trust you," replied Chuck in the same dreamy manner, before closing his eyes.

"That will relax him for the length of time the Kabi replenishes his fluids, Agent Walker. So say, about 45 minutes, if you want to get a coffee with your team? I'll meet you back here afterwards."

"Thanks, Dr Zarnow." Sarah got up from the couch where she had been sitting beside Chuck and left the room. Casey was waiting outside for her, with two coffees. He handed one wordlessly to her which she accepted gratefully (even though it was probably black and bitter) and they went over to join Carina.

As soon as she had Chuck hooked up to a Kabi bag and dispenser, Zarnow pulled out a circular device from one of the pockets in her scrub suit and sent a pre-arranged text to a number she (amongst others) had been forwarded that morning.. The number came with a picture file. They had been instructed to send that text if they came across the person in the picture. No name was given. But Zarnow had recognised Chuck straight away when she met him with Sarah at the lift. She sent the text, placed the phone back in her pocket and left the room immediately after.

~oOo~

Chuck was vaguely aware that Sarah and Zarnow had left the room and that he was now alone. He was a little put out, but the sedative had relaxed him. He stilled his mind and went through the breathing exercises Devon had taught him and Ellie. He had found the breathing technique which Devon had called the "Awesome" Skull Cleanser difficult the first time he had tried it and had nearly passed out on the spot. Now with the ease of long practice, he forced the air out through his nose by compressing his stomach muscles in as much as he could and let the air back in slowly, again through his nose. He visualised the air entering and leaving his body as instructed. After a few minutes of this, he felt his head begin to clear and his headache lessen.

He recalled the flashes he had experienced during the day and began to allocate them within what his father had called his memory palace. He had Chuck pick the family home for his and made him memorise the layout and the items in it perfectly. Once he was satisfied that Chuck had done so after a few months, he would make Chuck place items he needed to remember like a particular speech or passage from a book under the doormat. A formula for Calculus would be placed in the top drawer of his study desk. He also showed Chuck how to use mnemonics to memorise the order of cards in a deck, but warned him and Ellie never to use them when playing against other people. The practice became instinctive after years of effort. He recalled perfectly the images and sounds of his flashes for the day and constructed a new memory palace, consisting of his bedroom. In his mind, he placed Sarah's file in the top drawer of his bed side locker. He placed the rest of the files in the second drawer.

He was just finished, when Dr Zarnow returned with Sarah and Casey in tow.

"Well, you're looking a lot better Mr Carmichael. Let me just check your blood pressure," Zarnow said. She removed the needle and placed a manual sphygmanometer cuff on his other arm. She gave a satisfied noise at the reading and checked his pulse while looking at her watch. "Okay, you're good to go," she smiled.

"Finally," grunted Casey. "Come on moron, they're waiting for you," he continued, grabbing Chuck by the collar and leading him not so gently out of the treatment room until he came to a set of double doors. He rapped on them with his free fist and was admitted by Carina. She frowned at Casey.

"What did the nerd do John? Take the name of Ronnie in vain or something?"

"I'm taking no chances with him getting cute like he did with you Miller."

"Yeah well explain that to Walker. She's coming up the corridor after you and last time I saw that expression, it was followed by eight very dead Taliban who had slaughtered some poppy farmers _after_ they had paid over their protection money."

"It's easy to kill eight with the right fire power if you're sneaky," grunted Casey.

"She had a tobacco cutting blade, which she had pick pocketed from the prison guard who had locked us up earlier and killed them all while they were having their evening meal together. None of them managed to lay a finger on her."

"Bullshit," said Casey disbelievingly.

"True," said Sarah who suddenly had a blade at Casey's throat. "There were actually ten of them, not including said garrison guard. Now let Chuck go. Now."

Casey would have flinched, if only it wouldn't have meant that he would have had a very nasty gash in his neck. He was stunned that Sarah had managed to sneak up on him, despite Carina warning him. He released Chuck, while still managing to give him enough of a shove at the same time to make him stumble. Before she could tackle Casey further, three large wall mounted screens lit up and the three agents stood to various degrees of attention. Chuck found himself standing beside Casey. Sarah was in the middle and Carina at the end.

"Eyes front Bartowski. Your girlfriend will be waiting for you afterwards."

"Prick," muttered Chuck.

Only the fact that three of the screens were on displaying two men in business suits and one woman in army uniform who appeared to be sitting at desks, kept Casey from flattening Chuck. He resolved that he would have a little discussion with Chuck later, after the conference call. Maybe, he mused, he'd bring Vera along.

At the sight of the three faces on the wall mounted screens, Chuck flashed. He was feeling a lot more rested and relaxed after his treatment in the infirmary and with some success, limited the kaleidoscope of information he was normally subject to.

_United States Air Force Logo_

_Major General Diane Beckman _

_Current Area of Operations: __U.S. Cyber Command__ (USCYBERCOM)._

_Director of NSA_

_United States Air Force Logo_

_Flag of the Drug Enforcement Administration_

_Administrator Langston Graham, formerly CIA_

_Ex Director of Project Intersect_

_Flag of the Drug Enforcement Administration_

_Seal of the Central Intelligence Agency_

_Director Roan Montgomery_

_Chairperson of Special Collections Service_

_Seal of the Central Intelligence Agency._

All three looked at him with various levels of curiosity (Montgomery and Grahame) and distaste (Beckman). Chuck was feeling a lot braver however after his treatment in the infirmary. "I know who you all are," he stated tapping the side of his head, "and I am not a bit happy with any of you right now."

"Bartowski," growled Casey.

"When you can talk in anything other than grunts and sarcasm, I might start listening Agent Casey. Until then, shove it."

"Agent Casey, restrain Mr Bartowski," ordered Beckman.

"Yes Ma'am," replied Casey who was the closest anyway

"Don't come any closer Casey," warned Chuck. When he saw Casey wasn't listening, he swung back and struck Casey on the chin with the heel of his hand, causing Casey to stagger and bite his tongue in surprise. He was however made of sterner stuff however and drew his gun on Chuck, clicking off the safety.

Chuck, to Casey's surprise, grabbed his gun wrist with his right hand and forced it and Casey's arm away and down from him. With his left fist, he delivered three solid blows to Casey's right ear. While Casey was reeling in surprise from these, Chuck, still with a grip on Casey's right wrist, swung his right knee up twice in quick succession into Casey's now exposed midriff, driving the air out of his lungs. He forced him to the ground, still holding Casey's right wrist but now with both hands. He gave Casey's wrist a wrenching twist and wrapped his legs around Casey's arm, crossing his feet at the ankles and bracing them against his shoulder blade. This forced Casey into a position where any additional pressure or attempt to escape from would dislocate his shoulder or his elbow. This happened in the space of less than three seconds.

Chuck realised however, he had left himself wide open to the other two agents who had their guns drawn. The three agency heads all had shocked expressions on their faces. "Agent's, secure Mr Bartowski," ordered Montgomery.

Chuck applied a little more pressure until he could hear Casey's joint audibly cracking. He had no intention of seriously harming Casey, but he wasn't going to let them know that. But he had no idea how to extricate himself from the situation.

Sarah made a point of putting her gun down on the conference table. She walked slowly over to Chuck, with her hands up.

"Walker, get out of the way. I have a clear shot, "shouted Carina. Sarah ignored her. Grahame, Montgomery and Beckman watched the scene with considerable interest.

"Let him go Chuck. No one is going to harm you. You have my word."

Chuck slowly released his hold on Casey and tried to back away quickly from him. To his astonishment, Casey quickly pushed himself to his feet and turned to face Chuck who was still sitting on the ground and in an extremely vulnerable position. Casey held out his hand and Chuck, without thinking grabbed it. He was hauled to his feet by Casey, who then let go of Chuck's hand, stepped back and nodded slightly to him. "You're a bit of a dark horse, Bartowski. That was a textbook takedown."

"Er, thanks Casey," replied a clearly confused Chuck.

"Why didn't you finish it? There was nothing I could have done to stop you snapping my arm like a twig."

"It was purely for self-defence. I didn't want to deliberately injure you."

"So that punch I took from you at the Buymore wasn't a fluke Chuckie," said Carina when she walked over to join the three of them.

"Come on, we better continue the briefing," said Sarah putting her arm on Chucks back to bring him over to the conference table.

While this was going on, Montgomery appraised Sarah and Chuck with interest. While he was impressed at the quick thinking and physical resourcefulness of Chuck in defending himself, his trained eye also noticed that there seemed to be a mutual bond between him and Sarah. Each one seemed constantly aware of the others presence and always seemed to end up just outside each other's personal space. He seemed to shy away from Casey and Miller who returned the favour. He wondered how he could use that to his advantage.

Beckman managed to keep her surprise to herself. If it wasn't for the fact that Casey had passed all his re-certification training in fire arms and un-armed combat less than a month ago, she would have assumed that he was getting sloppy and/or old. Yet he had been dis-armed, with his weapon drawn no less and was lucky to escape without serious injury. She glanced at the file she had on Sarah and noted to herself that she appeared to have a calming influence on Chuck.

Grahame was the most surprised of all of them. He knew of Casey by reputation. Carina for all her improvisation on a mission, was one of his top agents. But he had started out in the CIA. Indeed, he had personally recruited a 17 year old gawky strawberry blonde kid with bad teeth, gave her the name Sarah Walker in the first place and mentored her throughout her time at the Farm and after she became a CIA agent. She was professional, by the book and followed orders to the letter. He had only seen her cry twice; once on the day he brought her personally to the Farm and the other time when she attended his leaving party when he had been appointed to head up the DEA. What he was seeing now was outside his experience where Sarah Walker was concerned. He knew she was not natural handler material and he avoided putting her in missions like that where possible. He began to rethink his position.

"Agents, Mr Bartowski, We will reconvene shortly. Please stand by," said Beckman when all four had lined up again. All three heads cut the feed simultaneously.

"Oh crap. I'm going to end up in a bunker now aren't I?" said Chuck.

"Can't say for certain Bartowski" replied Casey. "But I would say that depends on the Intel in your head and how they choose to act on it. Are you sure you identified Vincent Smith?"

"I'm certain. Oh crap! We have to get to the hotel. We have to warn everyone. He's going to bomb the award ceremony!"

"Can you explain how you know that Mr Bartowski?" Chuck spun in shock. It was Langston Grahame addressing him. The three agency heads were back on screen.

"Look Director, since I got that email from my friend Bryce Larkin, something is wrong with me, okay? I don't know what it is, but something is very, very wrong with me. I'm remembering things I shouldn't know."

"Like what Mr Bartowski, "questioned Montgomery, leaning in a little closer.

"For example today, I flashed..'

"Flashed? Can you explain that a little, Mr Bartowski," interjected Beckman.

"Okay, short version," sighed Chuck. From what I understand, your agencies encoded all your intelligence and secrets in standard generic pictures. Files, voice recordings, films and photos. For example, today when I heard Vincent Smiths voice, I immediately recalled a voice recording from the 80's the CIA had in the Intersect that was positively identified as him. This led onto a more recent recording that the NSA had from the Prague Hilton where they didn't identify Smith. In this he was requesting plans for the hotel that the ceremony is going to be held in less than an hour. The CIA also intercepted schematics for a bomb that can fit inside a laptop from that same hotel. There is a memo from the DEA in the Intersect less than a week old, indicating that Vincent Smith is the California area. Taking all these together, it is obvious to me General, that he is here to bomb the hotel where Jack Burton and the President are co-hosting the ceremony."

"Director Montgomery, General Beckman I'm a little rusty on Project Intersect. Is that the way the works? You have a more up to date knowledge of it than I currently have," asked Langston.

"It is. It was optimised to search for patterns in the data that was uploaded using an algorithmic process designed by our best analysts. But we thought we were decades away from a human mind being capable of retaining the data and analysing this on the fly like Mr Bartowski appears to have done," replied Montgomery.

"If this is true," began Beckman.

"Oh come on, you think I'd make shit like this up for Christ sake?" demanded Chuck.

Beckman glared at Chuck. At that moment, Chuck felt his bowels turn to water. She was the spitting image of his grandmother on his father's side. A woman, who had escaped from Treblinka concentration camp no less to re-join the Polish resistance and saved the lives of hundreds of Jews and Romany gypsies. She had left after the war, first to England and then to America where Chucks father was born. Chuck and Ellie were always slightly afraid of her as she took no nonsense from either of them, even though she spoiled them rotten. They only found out about her wartime exploits after dozens of her former colleagues and compatriots attended her funeral. Chuck instinctively fell back on the defence he had against her wrath back then.

"General, I apologise. I spoke out of turn and forgot my manners. It won't happen again."

Grahame and Montgomery nodded slightly in approval. "Apology accepted," replied a mollified Beckman. "But I still must ask the question. Are you absolutely certain of this?"

"I am General. One additional thing I know myself, is that there's a very strong rumour that Jack Burton is unveiling a beta version of the Pursuit System tonight on his latest laptop. He has made a lot of enemies over the years and it wouldn't surprise me if someone tried to sabotage it. We really need to get there to stop the ceremony going ahead."

"I've heard enough," replied Graham. "We'll have to send a team."

"We can't spare anyone," replied Montgomery. "All our agents and analysts are tied up with the Volkoff data that our deep cover agent has sent to us today."

"We don't have anyone at that short notice, since we took down Fulcrum in the last few days in California and our on call team was "injured" earlier today," sighed Beckman.

"Is it just me or does the timing of those two seems a little coincidental?" asked Chuck.

Six pairs of eyes suddenly swung and starred at Chuck. "Forget it," said a nervous Chuck, "I'm not the agent here." There was a very uncomfortable silence.

"Bartowski has a point General, Sirs. This is beginning to stink," replied Casey eventually. "I suggest the three of us leave immediately for that ceremony and bring him with us. His input could be very valuable."

The other two agents could have been knocked down by a feather. Casey volunteering to work with two non NSA agents and a civilian. What was the world coming to?

"I agree with Agent Casey gentlemen," replied Beckman. "If you have no objections?"

"I agree", replied Montgomery and Grahame together.

"Very well. Major Casey, you are the AIC for this mission. Afterwards, we will reconvene here in the Keep," said Beckman. "You too, Mr Bartowski. I suspect we will have much to discuss. One way or the other." All three screens blinked out at the same instant.

"And that didn't sound the slightest bit ominous at all," said Chuck nervously.

Even Casey smiled a little at that. But he covered it pretty well. He had a reputation to protect.

"What are we waiting for," demanded Carina. "I'm about to blow six months of cover for this and it better be worth it."

"Mission wheels up," replied Casey. "Walker, you take charge of Bartowskis safety. Miller, get a bomb disposal kit from the Armoury. I'll call through to the Presidential detail to extract him from the Best Western."

"What about Jack Burton and the attendees?" asked Chuck.

"Getting to that Bartowski. Walker, contact Burton's people or Burton himself. Let him know what's going on. The last thing we need is our main ICT outside contractor blown up."

Only Chuck noticed the shadow that briefly crossed Sarah's face before she snapped into full agent mode. "On it, Casey. Chuck, stay close to me until we come back here."

Don't freak out.

~oOo~

A/N 06/12/2013 _I am posting this a little earlier than planned as our family will be getting together over the next few days for the anniversary of our mothers passing a year ago on 10/12/2012 from breast cancer. Next posting should be 15.12.2013 of chapter 7 of 9 entitled; don't puke on the C4 Bartowski._

_Thank you for reading. Please post a review_


	7. Don't puke on the C-4 Bartowski

_Thank you again your reviews and PMs. If I haven't replied this week, please don't think I don't appreciate the fact that you took time out of your day to not only read my scribbles, but even took a little more time to let me know what you thought for good or ill. Things like that help to keep all Chuck fanfic going, nearly two years after its ending. (To be honest, I'm still in two minds about Chuck vs. the Goodbye myself)._

_There are only two chapters left after this one and I'm aiming to update around the middle of this week and have the last one ready in 7 days._

_As usual, I don't own Chuck. But then again, Christmas is coming._

Chapter 7 of 9 don't puke on the C-4 Bartowski

_Location: The Keep._

"Okay team. As it happens, the President has been called back to Washington as there seems there may be a breakthrough in negotiations on the Fiscal Cliff and Debt Ceiling. So he, at least, is out of the equation. Walker, what's your status?"

"Casey, I spoke to Edgar Winterbourne, Jack Burton's second in command. They said the Presidents detail already swept the area twice today and found nothing. They don't believe there's a threat and are carrying on with the conference."

"Miller, your status?"

"I have a three person bomb disposal kit ready to go. I also managed to pull the footage from the mall with Vincent Smith and sent it to the DEA. Zondra and Amy will take care of Gaez and Smith at the ceremony and provide back-up if needed."

"Fine, let's roll. Bartowski, stick with Walker at all times. Walker, don't let him out of your sight."

They left the conference hall and took the lift back up (all four this time).

~oOo~

General Diane Beckman was wondering whether it had been a good idea to have the whiskey decanter removed from her office when her screen indicated she had an incoming call. She recognised it as Grahame and pressed to accept.

"Langston, what I can do for you," she asked briskly.

"Diane, I was checking some of my old files with Roan and we found something interesting. I'm going to bring him in on this call." Her screen split to reveal Montgomery now on the right hand side.

"I'm going to let Langston start this Diane. I still can't believe it myself."

"To cut a long story short," began Grahame, "this is not the first time that Charles Bartowski has come to our attention. His potential was spotted at Stanford by Professor George Fleming in Stanford, who was a registered CIA asset. He scored a 98% retention rate in his Subliminal Imaging exam, so he felt he was a perfect candidate for Project Omaha which was looking into the military applications of the Intersect. But Bartowski was expelled for cheating in the exam and selling the results to the other students."

"That doesn't make any sense, Langston. Project Omaha was geared towards researching selective downloads of skill sets and data based on army rank. We've heard from three of our own agents that Bartowski is able to call up the data that Agent Larkin sent him. Why would he have needed to cheat in the first place if he could do that anyway?"

"That's what I thought. I'll let Roan take over from here."

"Diane, did you know that Agent Larkin was friendly with Charles Bartowski? Not only that, but they attended Stanford together. I accessed the late Professor Flemings files for the period in question after Langston called me and I found this recording of him interviewing Larkin. I'm going to play it now."

Beckman waited for the upload and leaned forward. A grainy black and white video began to play.

_Fleming: Test subject . This will be his first interview. (Bryce Larkin barges into the office). Bryce! This isn't a good time. I'm waiting for another student. _

_Larkin: Chuck Bartowski? He never got your message._

_Fleming: What are you talking about Bryce?_

Larkin: You put Chuck on the CIA recruitment track.

Fleming: It's not up to me, Bryce. They want him for the Omaha project.

Larkin: That's even worse. That's a military black operation. They'll turn Chuck into...

Fleming: Grow up Larkin! I'm required to send all the top test results to the agency.

Larkin: You bastard. I want my friend out of this!

Fleming: He's the perfect candidate.

_Larkin (pleading now): You don't get it. Chuck's a good person. He's got too much heart for this kind of work. He's no operative. You can't put him out in the field. He won't survive._

Fleming: The agency is not going to let go of a recruit this promising. The amount of information he can retain. He's perfect.

Larkin: They're not going to give him a choice?

Fleming: He's in no matter what. There's not a thing you can do. Now get out!

_Larkin: I'm sorry about this Prof, but if Chuck doesn't get a choice then neither do you._

_Fleming: What's that supposed to mean Larkin?_

_Larkin: I'm sure the CIA would be very interested in your close relationship with Magnus Einersson._

_Fleming: (flustered) that's not true! Get out!_

_Larkin: (holding up a thumb drive) I have a copy of this in my dead drop. You really should be more careful who you associate with Professor. Frankly, I'm surprised that Iceland even has a spy service. If you send on those results, I'll send this. _

_Fleming: Bryce. There's no need to be unreasonable. I'm sure we can work out something to our mutual benefit. Say, if Bartowski cheated on the exam, copied all the answers or say if he hacked my computer..._

Larkin: Then it would invalidate the results, wouldn't it? So now you're going to help the three of us, Professor.

"The file ends there," continued Montgomery. "But based on Larkin's intel, I issued Fleming's and Einersson's burn notices when I took over from Langston a month after that interview. They were his Red Test."

"He was taking no chances it seems, as even a cursory check would have shown that Bartowski was visiting his sister at the time the hacking occurred on Stanford's site. That however leaves one question", added Grahame. "Why did he send it to him now?"

"It also seems to me that he's been protecting him up to this point. Hiding Bartowski in plain sight. He's been acting as his handler so to speak. Who'd believe that the perfect candidate worked in a Buymore? It's laughable on the face of it," replied Beckman.

"We have only two options then," stated Grahame. "Bring him in. Or liquidate him."

"There is a third option if this works out," said Montgomery. "This is what I have in mind if you're both agreeable."

~oOo~

"That's a lot of guns Casey," remarked Chuck after seeing the contents of Casey's trunk and turning paler than he already was. "Is that Semtex?"

"C-4 Bartowski. Never leave home without it."

"Yeah, I just hate it myself when I've been caught without it. Please tell me that's not a Stinger missile?"

"It's not. It's a Stinger Block 2, specially modified. It's the spare one."

"No flamethrowers in here, I suppose?"

"Now you're just been ridiculous Bartowski," growled Casey.

"I suppose I am actually. Sorry about that."

"As if I'd keep flame throwers in the trunk. They're mounted and concealed either side of the engine in special compartments under the hood. One touch of a button and each one can project a flame for a radius of 15 feet."

"Is there any chance we could ride in Sarah's or Carina's car instead?"

"No."

"Yeah, I didn't think so."

~oOo~

Scrolling through his messages before he was due on stage, Jack Burton smiled at one in particular. Zarnow had located Larkin's friend for him. Initially however, he was not pleased at his last known location. But a follow on message indicated that he was on the move and even better he now knew he was heading his direction, thanks to the nano-tracking device had been implanted under the guise of an innocuous injection. He scrolled through a screen until he found the application he needed. I might as well make his journey an easy one, he thought.

He snatched a quick look on the monitor to see that Winterbourne was still on stage going through the business and profit projections for the next 12 months. Satisfied he wasn't missing anything especially interesting, he accessed the traffic control system for the Burbank area and re-scanned the location of the tracking device. He picked up the Crown Vic almost immediately.

I can wait a little longer to deal with you Mr President, he thought. I have a bigger fish to fry.

~oOo~

Casey found the drive from the railway station to the Best Western was taking a lot less time than the journey over. He didn't even need the police siren he kept on standby as they were making good time to their destination.

"Do you still have your cover FBI id, Walker?"

"Yes, I'm using the Agent Walken one. What's yours Casey?"

"Agent Colborn."

"If it's not a stupid question, why do you have fake FBI credentials?" asked a puzzled Chuck.

"CIA and NSA are cleared for operation outside the continental United States," replied Sarah. "We tend to push the envelope a bit there, but if circumstances force us to operate on US soil, we prefer not to draw any awkward attention to ourselves. Hence the FBI credentials. And they're not fake, they're cover," she added warningly.

"To-mate-oe, To-mat-oe. What about Carina then?"

"DEA can operate anywhere, Chuckles. I just use my own ID and my considerable charm."

"Is that what you're calling it nowadays?" snarked Sarah.

"Lighten up Walker and maybe that stick will fall out of your ass someday."

"Children! If the pair of you don't play nice, I'm turning this car around and heading straight back."

"Sorry Casey." was the faux childish response, followed by two sets of actual giggling.

"I can't believe I'm working with the pair of you again. To think I could have gone back to a nice damp villa or cave in the arse end of Pakistan."

"What were you doing in Pakistan Casey?" asked Chuck.

"I was seconded to the CIA in 2011 for a mission. The rest is classified Bartowski." And just like that, the glare was back.

"You know I could just flash on your file again?" tease Chuck.

"Don't even think about it or you're a dead man."

"Chuck, don't. Chuck!" Sarah was too late. She knew the tell-tale sign of a flash at this stage. "Chuck, if you do that again to any of us, you are going to piss off three agents who each know over 200 ways to kill you. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yet it was entirely ok for Carina and you to be spying on my house 'FBI Agent Walken'?"

Sarah reached across and grabbed Chuck by the ear, pulling his head down to the seat leather. "I said, do I make myself clear Chuck?" repeated Sarah in a tone that was all the more scary for its reasonableness.

"Sarah, I don't think my ear is supposed to rotate around like that. Ow, shit! Yes it's clear."

"Good boy," she replied patting his cheek and letting him back up.

Chuck winced. "You know, you're a very scary woman."

"And don't you forget it."

"Operation Neptune Spear is a bit of a stupid name for a mission anyway," he muttered.

Casey slammed the brakes on. Resulting in Chucks head slamming into the grill for the second time that day. "Casey. Come on! You trying to break the Intersect out of my head or something. Sarah?! I though t you were supposed to watch out for me."

"If there's one thing I learned today Chuck, it's that I can't protect you from yourself. And you deserved that," replied Sarah, checking her Smith and Wesson.

"Amen sister," agreed Carina. "Roger that," added Casey.

"Quite while you're still ahead Chuck," warned Sarah when she saw he was about to speak again.

Chuck pantomimed zipping his mouth shut, padlocking it and throwing the key away. It completely disarmed Sarah. Not that she was going to let him know that. Fortunately, Chuck's phone chose that moment to go off. She watched him whip it out. Sarah noticed Chuck's expression went from annoyance, to puzzlement to crestfallen.

"Problem Chuck?" she queried.

He said nothing and just passed his phone to her. She looked at the text on screen.

"_Hi Chuck, We had originally planned to speak with you in person about what's going on. In general, we feel that you have out grown the company and it would be better for your career to move on. Buymore wishes you the best in your future career path"_

She was stunned. This guy just never gets a break, she thought. Chuck's phone buzzed again with another incoming message. Sarah passed the phone back to him and looked out the passenger window to give him some privacy.

~oOo~

All I need now is the IRS to audit me back to my paper round days and this will be just the best day ever thought Chuck. He was not expecting the message that appeared on the phone screen.

_Hello Piranha_

He deleted the message straight away, but another one came through.

_I know your secret._

Okay, thought Chuck now it's the best day ever... _You have the wrong number. I'm not Piranha. Who calls themselves that anyway? _He tried to initiate his tracking software to get a fix on the call location.

_Not that secret Piranha. Your other secret._

I'm not playing this game loser, typed Chuck.

_You're the Intersect._

Before Chuck could do more than gape at his phone, a picture flashed up on his phone. Chuck recognised it as a stylised version of the constellation Orion. Chuck flashed briefly.

_I see you recognise that Piranha_

How did you know that was in the Intersect? Who are you?

_I put it there. Many years ago. _

Chuck had an epiphany. He remembered the name of the person who had headed up Project Intersect and what the picture meant.

You built the Intersect?

_We'll talk again. I'll send you a means to contact me. Not a word to anyone. Right now the four of you have a job to do. _

"Everything okay there Chuckles? You're awfully quiet. For you anyway. Not that I'm complaining, mind."

Chuck glared at Carina through the headache the last flash caused him and went back to starring out the window. Carina looked quizzically at Sarah, who shook her head slightly.

"Any way we're here. There's Zondra," continued Carina. "But I don't see Amy."

~oOo~

Zondra Rizzo signalled Casey to park alongside her. When all four had got out, she looked askance at Chuck, but otherwise didn't acknowledge him.

"I see you're still driving the tank Casey."

"Hello to you too Rizzo. I'm FBI for this mission, as is Walker."

"Oh great, fake FBI. I thought working alone with Amy "Clueless" Horowitz was bad enough. This just can't get any worse," she grumped.

"That's what I said," said Chuck. "About the FBI credentials I mean. And you're all glaring at me now. So I'll just shut up. Again."

"I take it back, now it's getting worse by the minute. Where did you get this guy? Retail? Food service maybe?"

"He called the tip in Zondra. Where's Amy?" replied Sarah.

"She's in the room next to Gaez. No sign of him making a move yet Walker. What's this about a bomb threat anyway? What's Gaez's involvement in this?"

"Gaez is just a bonus. It's the company he's keeping tonight we're really after," said Carina. "We need you and Amy to pick up Gaez while we pick up Smith and locate the bomb."

"Fine, you get the fun part. Let's do this. I believe Burton is about to come on stage soon and all these geeks have been freaking me out. I need a shower. With surgical cleanser. Perhaps some steel wool as well."

As they walked through the reception area, Zondra pulled Carina to one side. "Miller, what's the situation with you and Casey?"

"It's complicated," muttered Carina

"I'll bet it is. What about Walker the robot's boy toy there?"

Carina leaned over to whisper in Zondra's ear. "You're fucking shitting me. No way!"

"Usual bet Rizzo?"

"You are on Miller. Easiest money I'll make this year. Hey, what the hell are they doing?"

~oOo~

"Look moron", whispered Casey, "you said there was a bomb. Is there time to defuse it?"

"What if I'm wrong though? I've never experienced this before," replied a panicky Chuck.

"Casey…," began Sarah.

"It's okay Walker. I got this," said Casey, holding his hand up. "Bartow… Chuck, I was in charge of operational security on the Intersect. I picked up a lot about how it works. It was dumb because all it could do was be a glorified database after the original designer went AWOL. Any links it made, were after the fact. Before Larkin sent it to you, you were already smart. Concentrate. You were able to figure out who Smith was and that he was going to bomb this place. But how was he going to do it?"

Chuck recalled the flash. He regretted it instantly as his head began to swim. As he shook his head to clear it, he realised from the screen in the bar beside him that Jack Burton was now on stage. Casually (yet expensively) dressed, he was standing by a podium holding up a paper thin tablet in one hand and a laptop in the other. It was the figure behind Burton, rolling a catering trolley on stage that really caught his attention.

"We've got to stop him Casey, Sarah. I think Smith has just placed the bomb on stage. We need to get up there."

"Not you Chuck. You're too valuable."

"We can't leave him Walker. That's an order."

Sarah looked as if she was going to disagree. "Fine. What's the quickest way up?"

"Quickest. Right. This way," said Chuck breaking away suddenly.

"Chuck! Get back here," cried Sarah. "You coming or what Casey!"

"I am going to kill him," growled Casey.

"Get in line."

~oOo~

"Thanks Edgar for those riveting words. I have no idea how I'm going to follow that speech."

Winterbourne waved from the side as the crowd laughed good naturedly. Burton and Winterbourne had perfected their public roles over the years; He played his part perfectly as straight man and boring by the book Vice President to the nerd made well (with a dash of sulphur) Jack Burton. Privately, his role was the enforcer of all Jack Burtons decisions as Ring Director and he was pathologically loyal in both roles. He re-checked the phone supplied by Smith, rehearsing in his mind the steps to start (and stop if need be) the detonation cycle. He felt that Burton was playing with fire for too unpredictable an outcome, but then again when Burton made up his mind to do something, there was no talking him out of it. He had shot down the idea of building their own Intersect as folly, promising something much better tonight. Knowing Burton like he did, he was pretty sure he was going to be flying by the seat of his pants again, yet still manage to come up smelling of roses. Winterbourne still couldn't believe how many ICT companies they had put out of business with Project Lichtenstein.

His attention was suddenly drawn to the crash of doors at the back of the hall.

~oOo~

As Chuck ran up the centre of the hall (followed by a frantic Sarah and outraged Casey), he was reminded of the time he had to the walk of shame out of Stanford when he was expelled. The disgust and pity was what he was seeing again, in the crowd on either side of him. Only Bryce being at his side for moral support, had got him through the journey off the campus. He remembered that Bryce, had if anything, taken his expulsion as badly as himself. But now he was dead and he had sent him a parting gift that he was still coming to terms with.

"Whoa there, it seems we have some very people very excited about the Burton Slate," announced Burton to the crowd, holding up the wafer thin item Chuck had seen earlier. The crowd laughed, assuming it was part of the presentation and another of Jack Burton's many publicity stunts. Chuck tripped up the steps to the stage and collapsed at the podium right at Burton's feet.

Hook line and sinker thought Burton, recognising him straight away. He signalled to Winterbourne not to interfere.

"There's a bomb. We've got to clear the hall", gasped Chuck.

Unfortunately, due to running through a reception area fountain, up 3 flights of stairs and trying to keep ahead of four very pissed off government agents and the final sprint up a very long hall meant it came out as

"There's a _wheeze _bomb. We've _wheeze _got to _gasp _clear the hall_ wheeze._"

If he survived this, Chuck was definitely going to take up Devon's offer to jog with him in the mornings. His resolution was interrupted by Sarah, who suddenly had a knife in her hand. Before he could cringe and beg for his life, an underarm throw sent it flying directly into a fire alarm panel at the back of the stage. He didn't have time to be impressed before the siren went off and the overhead sprinkler system. The hall emptied until the only people there were Chuck, the four agents, Winterbourne and Burton. Most were starring daggers at Chuck.

Except for Burton and Sarah who were staring daggers at each other.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," Chuck said. There was no response. "Tough room," he muttered. The fire alarm and sprinklers cut of at that point and Burton turned his attention to Chuck.

"That's the worst excuse I ever heard to get an advance model of one of my computers. Seriously though, who the hell are you people?"

"FBI. We called earlier about a bomb threat," said Sarah flicking her cover ID.

"I remember 'Miss Walken', replied Burton emphasising the name. "We also told you that the Presidents detail found nothing. Twice. But presumably the FBI thinks it knows better than them. Now, if I could get your names and agency affiliations, I want to make sure that everybody is properly accounted for when I speak to your bosses' boss later."

Chuck at that point had located the trolley that he had seen Smith wheel on stage. When he flipped back the top, he noticed a laptop inside. The laptop lid opened suddenly and the screen lit up. A message began crossing the screen from right to left.

_ORION THANKS YOU_

Chuck felt the beginnings of a flash, but this was not the same. His vision went black and all he was aware of was darkness. There was nothing else. He could still think and realised instinctively that the blackness was caused by an absence of data; as if it had been purged from the Intersect with only the emptiness left behind to show it had been there in the first place. But he felt like he was locked in his own head. While he was trying to figure out what this meant, he felt warms hands on his face and heard a female voice. Was that Sarah?

"Chuck. Come back to me. We can't do this without you. Please."

His vision returned. "I thought I'd lost you," Sarah whispered.

"Come on Sarah it's me. I'm like herpes. You'll never be free of me."

"Sounds like something I'd say moron. Let's get you out of here before that thing blows," interjected Casey.

"What thing? Oh God, that's a lot of C4!"

"We have less than a minute to get to safety. Come on!"

Burton and Winterbourne watched the scene with interest. They were in turn discreetly watched by Carina and Zondra: Both of them noticed the two men's attention was solely on Chuck. So while they missed Chuck's next flash, they did not miss Burton's reaction to it. Or his whispered aside to Winterbourne. Or their apparent lack of panic.

"Look Casey, Sarah; this is a Burton Express laptop. I sold and fixed these at our store. There's a little known factory reset that will shut it down and stop the timer."

"Not on that one son," replied Burton. "That system is so secure, it never breaks down. No reset necessary. I've finally perfected the setup and encryption so that it's immune to any virus worm or malware.

"That's awesome! Yet also a bit awkward right now. If I try to power it down normally, I might set of something else. Wait, does this have a USB port?"

"Yes, it will be last model with one. My new Burton Slate will replace everything."

"Perfect, all I need is what we called in Stanford the Chuc…Charles Carmichael special and a little thing call the Miley Cyrus Virus," replied Chuck whipping out his iPhone.

Winterbourne kept his hands on the phone in his pocket, ready to switch the detonator off. In the meantime, Chuck was typing furiously on his phone.

"That's not an Xbox there Bartowski," whispered Casey frantically. "And you're not an X-Man. Quit fooling around. We've only 30 seconds."

"I only need 20 John," answered Chuck blithely. He connected the iPhone cable and phone to the port in the front of the laptop. "Mr Bomb. Meet Ms Cyrus and my little friend."

Nothing happened. The timer continued to 20 seconds remaining. At 15 seconds, the screen began to flicker with pictures of a cartoon Miley Cyrus engaged in some extremely adult behaviour. With a lot of adults. And some dwarves.

The pictures came faster and faster becoming more and more graphic until the screen suddenly went black. The digits on the timer began flashing frantically, going from 00:10 to 88:88 before suddenly going dark and powering down. At that point, Sarah prised out the detonator (with yet another knife, Chuck noted) before it began to spark and crushed it under her heel.

"I did it. I did it," cried Chuck. "I, I defused a real bomb! I defused a real bomb! I defused a real bomb!...what if I was wrong? Oh God I feel sick."

"Don't puke on the C-4 moron. That's evidence."

"Thanks for the sympathetic ear Casey. Don't know where I'd be without you."

"Did you just infect our software and by crash our laptop with a virus?" growled Winterbourne.

"Mmmm. Yes. A little," replied Chuck nervously, in the voice of a man wondering was it may be too late to do his will. "I had reverse engineered the virus in an attempt to understand why it only infected non Burton computers and combined it with a searchbot I developed in college that checked for vulnerabilities in internet infrastructure. Basically, I forced the two to battle each other. This overclocked the virus and destroyed the operating system, thus de-coupling it from the detonator."

"Stand down Winterbourne. The wordy nerd just saved all our lives. Including yours," interjected Casey.

"This can never leave this stage. Do you realise the harm this could do to the company?"

Burton had heard enough at this stage. "It's okay Edgar. It's better we found out now rather than when it went on general release. Where did you say you worked again son," he asked Chuck.

"I don't actually have a job anymore. But I'm thinking of setting up my own computer repair business Mr Burton."

"Come work for me. Name your price. I can't believe I haven't heard of you."

Chuck swallowed. He was currently on 12.50 an hour. Right now, the head of the biggest computer hardware and software maker wanted him to work for him. He could seriously rejig his five year plan. He glanced at Casey Carina and Sarah. Casey looked a little disappointed that there had been no gun play: Carina merely looked bored. Neither of them were going to be any help. Zondra was frantically trying to reach Amy on her comms and looking very angry. He turned to Sarah. One look at the silent appeal in her eyes and a barely perceptible shake of her head made his mind up for him. He didn't understand why, but he knew this was important to her for some reason.

"Thank you Mr Burton, but I think I've worked for other people long enough. I really appreciate the offer, but I think I'll have to learn to stand on my own two feet in the future."

Burton sighed internally. So close, he thought. He didn't want to insist with all these witnesses around, but he at least knew he could pick Chuck up anytime. This was even better than he had hoped. He had seen the flash Chuck experienced when he came up with his original idea of a factory reset. That little piece of information was one of dozens he had planted by Shaw over the years in the CIA intelligence files for just this eventuality.

A new human Intersect. This was even better than he had originally hoped.

One he would control, unlike the first one.

"Here's my card, Charles. I know it seems a little odd in this day and age, but I like the personal touch. Call me on that number anytime if you change your mind and we'll talk. Who knows, maybe I could put a little business your way."

"Thank you Sir. I appreciate it. But if you'll excuse me, I'm feeling a little under the weather," he slurred. Chuck's head began to swim and his tongue felt about 10 sizes too big for his mouth. He staggered towards the laptop.

They could see what was going to happen, but no one could move in time to stop Chuck. He tried to brace himself against the trolley and merely succeeded in pushing it away from him, scattering the C-4 at his feet. His stomach, protesting at the sudden lurch and the stress inflicted on it in the last 24 hours, did a painful flip and he vomited what felt like his entire stomach lining over the plastic explosive. His last thought before he passed out was that Casey was going to kill him.

And then that Sarah was really going to kill him.

A/N 15.12.13 Thank you for reading. Please post a review if you can. Next update should be around 19th or 20th of December with the final chapter to be posted on 23.12.13. After that, I am going to prepare the sequel to this tale and also restart my stalled fanfic Sarah vs. the Dark Passenger.


	8. Shut up and kiss me!

_Although it's the one of the shortest, this was the chapter I was most nervous about writing from the beginning. But I hope you all like it and that I've dealt with it in a believable way. _

_All mistakes are my own and I still don't own Chuck._

_Chapter 8 of 9 Shut up and kiss me_

_Casa Bartowski/Woodcomb two weeks later_

Chuck awoke, not knowing where he was. He thought he could recall being in a hospital type bed and the beeping of medical equipment. He also seemed to remember doctors coming and going. Occasionally, he was aware that Sarah Casey or Carina were nearby. Sarah would be pacing restlessly, while the other two would be sitting most of the time. His recollections were so foggy however, that he wasn't sure if they were real.

When the sleepiness cleared a bit, he found himself looking at a framed Tron poster. That seemed promising. He had a sentimental attachment to that poster; His father had given that to him before he disappeared. Beside it was the Teen Titans poster, that he bought from the money he earned mowing lawns when he was twelve. He was wondering how he came to be back in his own room and who had brought him there. He awoke fully at the sound of a man clearing his throat from his computer desk.

"Thought you were going to sleep forever Bartowski. Dullest protection detail I've ever been assigned," came the dulcet sounds of John Casey.

"What the hell?! Casey! What are you doing in my room? How did I get here?" He took a look at he was wearing. "Did you dress me for bed?!"

Casey shuddered. "Hell no! That was Walker. What the hell is that abomination you're wearing anyway? 'These are not the droids you're looking for'. What does that even mean?"

"It's from Star Wars. You know when Obi Wan Kenobi was….."

"Forget I asked. I'm more a Godard and Kurosawa man myself." When Chuck gaped at him, he scoffed. "Come on Bartowski. I wasn't hatched."

"I have to be dreaming," muttered Chuck. He drew himself up to a sitting position and noticed that although he felt famished and quite weak, his head was a lot clearer. He felt a slight itch in his right shoulder where Zarnow had injected him with the sedative and found a surgical dressing there. There was also a watch on his left wrist that he knew wasn't one of his. However when he looked closely at it, it seemed familiar. His musings were interrupted by Casey.

"Apparently that's called a governor," stated Casey. "It regulates your bio-electric field from what I understand. Walker and Miller are the science Nerds, so one of them might be able to explain it better. It was found in a vault in DNI headquarters. No one knew of its existence until Beckman received an untraceable communication telling her of its existence. It seems that it stops the Intersect from overloading your brain."

"It seems to be doing something. I feel a lot better," replied Chuck, still trying to figure out why it was so familiar. "How long have I been out Casey? I see it's evening outside."

"Twelve or thirteen days. Your recovery accelerated in the last few days when that was put on your wrist."

Twelve or thirteen days. Chuck felt weaker all of a sudden. "Steady Bartowski. You're still getting better, but it may be a few days before you're fully recovered. "

"My sister and her husband will be back tomorrow. I'm supposed to be out of here by then."

"Don't get your panties in a bunch Bartowski. We have you covered. But Walker will explain more. She's due to take over from me in a few minutes."

As Chuck's memory continued to return he cringed as he recalled the last thing he did before he lost consciousness all those days ago. "Sorry about the C-4 Casey. Did you at least get Smith?"

"No. Horowitz lost both him and Gaez. Somehow, they got away without her picking them up. She's suspended from duty at the moment. Rizzo suspects that she may have played some part in their escape. But now that we know what he looks like, it's only a matter of time before we pick him up. In the meantime, an NSA colleague of mine, Special Agent Forrest, has been called in to carry out an independent investigation. It's standard procedure when a mission goes tits up like that. One other thing they found while you were been treated, was a tracking device in your shoulder, which has been removed. So Zarnow, the doctor that treated you initially has been taken into custody as well as she was the only one that could have implanted it. You never left our sight except for that time with her in the Keep. I still aim to get to the bottom of that personally."

Casey was interrupted by Chuck's bedroom door slamming against the wall and Sarah storming into the room. She was followed by an anxious looking Carina.

"I heard the two of you talking. Agent Casey, you were supposed to call me the minute Chuck was awake," said Sarah in a very hard voice. If Chuck didn't know better, he could have sworn Casey looked nervous for a split second. But that couldn't be possible. Could it?

"I'm literally just awake Sarah. Not to mention, I'm still coming to terms with the fact that it's almost two weeks later.

Sarah looked at Chuck as if she was weighing the truth of his words. Carina, who had followed Sarah into the room a few seconds later, surreptitiously crossed her fingers. Casey suddenly discovered that the Tron poster was the most fascinating thing he ever saw and that he really needed to commit every crease fold and detail to memory. Chuck found himself feeling vaguely guilty for no reason and swore the apartment itself seemed to be holding its breath.

However, he was rewarded with a heart stopping smile from Sarah. The apartment released the breath it was holding and seemed to light up. Chuck found himself smiling in return. Carina signalled to Casey to follow her out of the room. Neither of them quite ran, but it was a close thing. They managed to nod their thanks to Chuck on the way out.

"How do you feel Chuck?" asked Sarah when they'd left.

"Better," replied Chuck still smiling. "I suspect it's partly due to this," he said holding up his wrist with the governor. "Hey, now I know where I've seen something like this before."

"Really?" queried Sarah coming over and sitting on the edge of his bed.

"Yeah, I remember my dad used to wear a watch exactly like this."

"Chuck, we need to talk."

"Just answer me one thing first Sarah?"

"Sure."

"This thing in my head. The Intersect. Can it be removed?"

Sarah sighed. "It doesn't seem it can be. While you were been treated and examined in Washington, we had our best people look into that. No one knows enough about it. But we've been told that you're only the person who has successfully managed to not only survive the download, but actually use it. The NSA and CIA scientists say it's as if it was designed with you in mind."

"What happened to the others? Do I want to even know?"

"It didn't work out too well for them. Most didn't survive and the rest went insane. We tested that governor on the few that did survive and it seemed to relieve some of their symptoms. But with you, it worked perfectly. We air lifted you directly to Washington to treat you when you collapsed at the hotel. You were in a catatonic state for the first week or so. But it was also noticed from fMRI scans and EEG readings, that judging by your brain activity, it appeared to be accommodating the Intersect anyway. You were on the road to recovery, but that governor seemed to accelerate the process."

"Sounds a little like a reboot after a software upgrade," grinned Chuck.

"Exactly. But you need to keep wearing it until it's determined to what extent you and the Intersect are dependent on it. More tests will have to be carried out until we know one way or the other."

"So I'm government property for the foreseeable future," sighed Chuck.

Sarah felt bad for Chuck. What she now had to tell Chuck become a lot easier, yet harder at the same time. Chuck was obviously quick on the uptake. She hadn't planned on having to explain the full ramifications of what having the Intersect meant to him just yet until he was more recovered. But she knew she couldn't refuse to answer him if he asked.

"In a way yes," replied Sarah. The agency heads realise you're an innocent victim in this, but given what you can do with the Intersect already and the potential you've shown, you've also become the highest value intelligence asset in U.S. history. Budget cuts mean that we're not going to be in a position to rebuild the Intersect system for years to come. If we could, we could probably figure out at the same time how to remove it from you. Your case has been discussed at the highest level. And I mean the highest level Chuck. So I've been authorised to make you an offer."

"There's nowhere I can run is there?" asked a crestfallen Chuck.

"Not from us. The offer is this. For now, you go back to your old life as much as possible. We'll protect you, and you'll work with us."

"Us?"

"Carina, Casey and myself in the first instance. You have secrets from all three agencies in your head and who knows from where else, so one agent from agency has been assigned as part of your personal detail. For security, it was decided to keep the agents who already know about you. We will also be free to act on any actionable intelligence you access from the Intersect. "

"What about my sister? My friends? Are they in danger?"

"As long as you tell them nothing, they're safe. No one outside of your protection detail, the agency heads and the President knows or is to know of your existence as the Intersect."

Chuck felt his mouth go dry. "The President?" he managed to stammer.

"It's on his authority I'm making the offer Chuck. Do you want time to think about it? We're ready to set the ball rolling as soon as we know your answer."

Chuck thought for a moment. "I'll do it on the condition that my friends and family are kept safe. And that if it ever becomes possible, that this thing is removed from my head. Those are not negotiable."

"Done," agreed Sarah. "There's going to be a lot work involved over the next few weeks, but the doctors in Washington say that you will need about a month of recovery before you're ready to begin. That gives Casey Carina and myself time to solidify our covers. And you."

"I don't suppose the government can provide me a place to live seeing as I'm going to be homeless tomorrow. Say, a villa in Rome? Or Paris. I always wanted to see the Eiffel Tower."

"Actually," grinned Sarah, "they have provided a place closer to home. But I'll explain that shortly. Are you hungry?"

Chuck's stomach rumbled its response. "I'll take that as a yes so. Come on, get dressed and I'll bring you over to Casey's. The NSA bought the apartment near the entrance for him and he's having a house warming barbeque for your neighbours. Apparently he has something called a Beastmaster."

"I don't suppose he wants a roommate to share the rent. Although it might be a while before I can contribute rent, seeing as I no longer have a job."

For some reason Chuck noticed Sarah going a little pink. He found it adorable. "No, Carina is sharing with him. Their cover is going to be as husband and wife who run their own energy consultancy firm."

"Basically the plan is that you move in with me," she mumbled to the Tron poster.

This had been the hardest part of the deal that they had hammered out. She had argued strongly for this and not entirely for unselfish reasons. Casey and Carina had snidely remarked that they had been outvoted one to two, but they had backed her to the hilt when they presented her/their plan to the agency heads. As the youngest ever recipient of the Distinguished Intelligence Cross, her arguments carried a lot of weight and she already had Montgomery (and Grahame to a lesser extent), in her corner after the first meeting. Beckman took a little longer to come around, But Montgomery and surprisingly Casey, eventually persuaded her. Beckman only acquiesced on the grounds that Chuck had to be told in full and be aware of, the full implications of what his cover required of him.

Sarah herself complicated matters when she asked for exemption from the dreaded Section 49 rules from all three agency heads. That took another day of arguments and meetings. Initially, Grahame had not backed her to that extent. But Montgomery had argued, due to the special nature of Chucks abilities and the fact that Chuck and Sarah (1) were going to living and working together and (2) that he was never going to have a normal life for the foreseeable future that a young man of his age could be expected to have, they had to accommodate that possibility that their relationship might become closer than what would be normally allowed. For some reason that Sarah couldn't fathom, Beckman did a complete 180 and agreed strongly with Montgomery on this. They eventually persuaded Grahame to back down, but Sarah felt that his heart hadn't really been in the argument in the first place. They presented the plan to the President who gave it his full agreement.

However, if Chuck could not be persuaded to go along with the plan, he was going to put in a bunker. The bunker option was not to be mentioned in the event of his refusal and the three agents were to use whatever means necessary to get him there. Given the Wikileaks scandal and the ongoing Snowden issue, they couldn't afford to take the chance of not doing so.

"The CIA bought the apartment across the way, near the fountain for us," continued Sarah. Nice going Walker, she said to herself. No wonder you failed seduction school twice. You've faced down terrorists and organised insurrections without any qualms. But all it takes is one cute Nerd to make her feel like she was back in high school on her first ever date. She suddenly felt a warm hand taking her own.

"I'm sorry Sarah."

Oh no. He can't refuse she thought. I don't want him to go in a bunker. Suddenly she felt like she was going to cry so badly.

"I understand this must be hard for you. I'm sure you'd rather be off somewhere else rather than babysitting me. I know that you're only following orders. I'll try and not get in the way and I'll make things as easy as I can for you. I hate that the government makes you do this."

"I agreed to this assignment Chuck," she whispered. "I've had a hell of a lot worse."

"Hey, I'll be a good roommate. But I'll need the biggest room for all my stuff. Nerd here you know," laughed Chuck, pointing at himself.

When she didn't respond, Chuck was worried. Especially when he saw her shoulders slump. "Sarah, what's the matter? Hey, I'll settle for the second biggest room." He pushed himself up in the bed and placed his other hand on her shoulder.

"This isn't really the way I wanted it to happen."

"You've lost me Sarah." A small hope was taking seed in Chuck. He didn't dare encourage it.

Oh God, is he really that oblivious, Sarah thought. She turned to face him. "I like you Chuck," she said simply and honestly.

Chuck didn't know what to say, but he knew in his heart whatever reply he gave really mattered to Sarah. But he was still afraid he may have taken her up wrong.

"Apart from the fact that it's not remotely believable that a woman like you would be seen with a guy like me….

"Thanks for nothing Chuck. Way to make me feel good," snapped Sarah, beginning to pull away and feeling hurt beyond measure.

"No wait!"

"I get it. I'm not good enough for you. I was stupid to think a guy like you could fall for someone like me. I just mmmmphhh!

She found that Chuck was suddenly beside her on the bed, with his left arm around her shoulders and his right cupping her chin. But most importantly, the best kiss she had ever experienced was getting an encore performance. No, this was much better. There was no comparison. It was broken too soon for her liking. She opened her eyes to find Chuck smiling and she knew instinctively that this smile was for her alone, that no one else would receive this.

"I know I'm not the greatest communicator," he grinned "But I only know you for about a day and you are without doubt the smartest and coolest woman I have ever met. Not to mention extremely beautiful." Chuck paused for a moment. "Actually, you can stop me anytime with the compliments if they're becoming, you know …."

You had me at I know, thought a relieved Sarah. "No, that was very sweet," she said resting her forehead against his.

"Sweet! Golly gee, thanks for making feel I'm about eight," pouted Chuck, giving her a playful nudge.

Sarah giggled. "Well, you're not so bad yourself." She couldn't remember the last time she got compliments that weren't solely about a mission or her looks. And when did she start giggling she thought suddenly.

"Please!" snorted Chuck. "I'm fantastic."

"Yes. You are. But I warn you though, I may come with baggage."

"Well, I can be your very own baggage handler."

Sarah drew back from him, one eyebrow raised. Oh crap, thought Chuck. Foot, let me introduce you to Mouth. Mouth, Foot. Where the hell did that come out of? Bryce Larkin couldn't save that line. He felt himself blushing furiously as if he was actually eight. But then Sarah's hands held his face and she kissed him, soft lingering and very sweet.

"Where have you been all my life Chuck?" The heart stopping smile was back.

Chucks brain froze at that point. He mentally shook himself and wondered how he could get Sarah to kiss him again.

"So Miss Walker. I believe there's a barbeque on tonight. Would you do me the honour of being my date?"

"I think I could suffer through it, Mr Bartowski," she teased.

"I don't know, close proximity to my nerdiness for long periods of time could force you to grab the next flight to Jakarta."

"Chuck!" growled Sarah

"Sorry."

"Shut up and kiss me!"

"Well when you put it like that I mmmmphhh…"

_A/N 20.12.13 Even if I was good enough to make it interesting, I still don't think I'd have the heart to drag out the will they/won't they that the TV series did for about half a season too long (yes first thirteen episodes of Season Three, I'm looking at you). But on the other hand, I don't intend their relationship to be pure fluff either, as no real relationship is. Chuck and Sarah will face a fair few challenges, work wise and personal wise in future stories that I'll set in this particular universe. _

_Last chapter will be published on 23rd or 24th December. The working title at the moment is Loose Ends._


	9. Loose ends

_This is it. The final chapter in my reboot of Chuck Vs the Intersect. Thank you for staying with the story this far. The reviews follows and favourites I got for this were very encouraging. I hope you all enjoy this last chapter where I address some issues that you may think I left hanging. I also have a final surprise or two in this that I hope you like._

Chapter 9 of 9 _Loose ends_

_Toronto, Queens Park_

Jack Burton spent most of the two weeks, following the ceremony at the Best Western, wondering how come everything had turned to shit for him and by extension The Ring all of a sudden.

Zarnow, his contact within the Keep had been taken to a secure location that none of his other sources were able to locate. He had only been able to trace that much through second and third hand information that they had managed to dig up. He had no illusions about her holding up under interrogation. Everyone talked eventually. The previously moribund Elders of the Ring, who had always given him a free hand, were now daring to take him to task for his slip up as they saw it. No Ring agent had ever been captured alive before and they were not impressed at his inability to find her. His original plan to take the Elders out, once he had taken control of the second Human Intersect was now a non-runner. He couldn't even contact them or the Ring agents anymore at will, as the Elders had ordered him to send a communication to all Ring agents to destroy the phones he had provided for them. Now the Elders contacted him as they pleased, using the old Fulcrum procedures.

Secondly, there were rumours that his new operating and Pursuit systems had been hacked and shown to be no better at defending itself from threats than his other competitors systems. His competitors experienced a resurgence in sales and share price, while he lost a fortune when Burton Express shares started to tank. He was certain that the NSA and CIA were behind that with carefully placed leaks to friendly media outlets. The ones he controlled, were fighting a losing battle trying to bring what they called a fair and balanced side to the coverage. Very few took seriously their contention or sources that a hacktivist called Orion and his organisation Orion's Belt was behind the sabotage. It was deemed to be pure fantasy by other media talking heads. They raised questions about his apparent behaviour at the Best Western, quoting "sources" that stated he had tried to prevent FBI agents from carrying out their duties and that he had not even left the immediate area when a bomb was being disarmed. The FBI refused to comment on the 'speculation.'

Thirdly, the politicians who had previously begged to be seen and photographed with him, were no longer returning his calls. The Senate Intelligence Committee that had previously looked at clamping down on the powers of the NSA and CIA, had if anything changed its tune and was preparing to water down the checks and balances that were originally proposed by his own bought and paid for Senators to curb the agencies powers. Furthermore, no-one was seriously talking any more about inviting him to run for political office any time soon.

Not that he cared about that. He hadn't discouraged the speculation, but he knew that he could exercise real power from behind the scenes and would do so again when it suited him to remind his proxies who was really in charge.

He knew he was still too powerful for anyone to take on openly. But he also knew the appearance of weakness was just as bad and he was finding it increasingly difficult to assert this authority.

This was all down to Larkin's friend, who without realising what he did, had destroyed years of planning. If Burton suspected that the schnook had done this deliberately, he would have killed him himself. But he decided to keep the option open of getting him under his control. He would deal with him in good time, unless he became a problem. The uppity Ring Elders would have to be dealt with first, then Orion.

Orion would definitely have to be dealt with.

This was the purpose of his meeting with the agent, code=named Leader. His original meeting with her had to be postponed after the Best Western incident, but if anyone could perform this mission, she could. To be safe, the meeting was re-arranged to take place outside the U.S. He sat facing the Ontario provincial legislature building, admiring the Romanesque styling, when the proximity alert on his new burn phone went off. A minute later, a slim bespectacled woman with brunette hair and a bookish air, sat on the bench beside him. He smirked at the thought that the people walking around them had no idea about the deadly woman in their midst. As for himself, a pair of tinted glasses and a haircut was enough to deflect attention away from him. She had two coffees with her and after a few moments she turned to him.

"Mum wants to know have you contacted Uncle Tobias," she said nervously.

"I can't until the sand storm blows over."

She was satisfied with the response and visibly relaxed. "It's an honour to meet you at last Mr Buchanan," she replied, handing him one of the coffees.

He smiled at her use of the alias he had provided himself with. "The pleasure is all mine Miss Roberts. We have a lot to discuss."

~oOo~

The buzz of conversation awoke Chuck. In a panic, he recognised Ellie's voice and to his disbelief Sarah. They seemed to carrying on quite an animated and giggly conversation outside his bedroom door. He knew that Sarah had left him back to the apartment after an hour of Casey and Carina's house warming, as he didn't have the energy to stay any longer. He had to admit though, that the steaks were the best he ever had and that the man was a master at the grill. Casey did however have trouble with carving the fish into fillets, but Sarah had stepped up to the occasion and expertly done the job. Casey had furthermore provided mini quiches (home made) and Sarah had had prepared soufflés for desert. Carina had spent a lot of time mingling with the male neighbours, who were hanging on her every word and getting glared at in turn by their wives and girlfriends. However she did endear herself to them when she threw the notoriously handsy Mr Hedestian into the fountain after he groped her ass when his wife wasn't looking.

After one beer and a full belly of roast potatoes salads and steaks though, Chuck was nearly out on his feet. Sarah had brought him back to Ellie's apartment, where he just about had the energy to dress himself for bed and collapse into his first natural sleep in weeks.

The sunlight that was coming in the window shone on something on the other pillow that he couldn't quite focus on. Reaching over, he then noticed that the space beside him was a little warm. And the thing that was shining was a stand of blond hair. He gazed at it disbelievingly. Sarah had slept in his bed? Beside him?

"Way to go Chuckster! I knew you had it in you."

"Gah! Devon! What are you doing back already?! What's that smell?!"

"That Chuck, is the smell of a healthy colon," said a smiling Devon, holding a tall glass of his patented green and gloopy. "I've added some extra zinc for you as it looks like you'll need it," he added, winking.

"Gee, I'd missed that. Great."

"You know Chuckster," continued Devon (completely missing the sarcasm), "I was pretty sure this wing of the apartment had taken a vow of celibacy after the whole Jill thing. But man, your new girlfriend is awesome. Ellie and I took a ten mile jog already this morning with her and our new neighbours John and Carina. Then she owned all our asses at sparring. She wasn't even breathing hard after all that. How did the two of you meet?"

Fortunately Chuck was saved by Ellie, followed by Sarah coming into the room. Ellie, like Devon, was dressed in her hospital scrubs. Sarah, to Chuck's puzzlement, was dressed in a black business suit.

"Hi baby brother. I hear that you've been busy these last two weeks. And your girlfriend has just been nothing but mean to me." Ellie's huge smile however belied her words.

Chuck just starred at his sister. She had despised any girl he had ever introduced her to. She had a particular hatred for "that bitch" as she referred to Jill and "the midget" as she had referred to Lou. Yet here she was with Sarah. In the same room. And judging by what he had heard a few minutes ago, getting on like a house on fire. He was getting more confused by the minute.

"Sarah, Chuck was just about to tell us how you met," said Devon, turning his attention from Chuck. Who promptly took the opportunity to put the glass of green and gloopy down on his bedside locker. And right at the very back.

He reminded himself he'd have to clean that space behind the locker before he left.

"Well," said Sarah, "I had just transferred here from DC because my company wanted to expand its operations on the west coast. I didn't really know anyone here and I had a personal emergency. I met Chuck and he really came through. He probably wouldn't admit it, but your brother is kind of a hero. So I asked him would he show me around Burbank and he made me feel really welcome."

"Way to go Chuck! Hit me," boomed Devon, holding up his hand. Sighing internally, Chuck held up his hand and was rewarded by a bone shaking high five.

When he was sure the bones in his hand stopped vibrating, Chuck found that Sarah was sitting beside him on the edge of the bed and had her left arm around his shoulder. Devon had moved to stand beside Ellie. "That's not all Chuck did though," she said smiling at both of them.

Chuck threw her a stricken look. "Sarah, I thought we agreed we weren't going to tell them anything."

"It's okay Chuck, Devon and Ellie understand everything and they're very proud of you."

"Everything?" said Chuck looking between them.

"Yes, all those people you saved."

"People?" replied Chuck still trying to get his brain into gear.

"Yes silly. At the mall. The gas leak and how they fired you from the Buy More because they didn't find it the first time around."

Chuck looked at Sarah, totally confused at this stage. "Chuck, a second emergency team went in to be certain and they found the leak at the back of the delicatessen. Lou's, I think it's called. If you hadn't raised the alarm when you did, who know what could have happened?"

Chuck decided he better play along and give some sort of intelligent response.

"Oh."

"Is he always like this Ellie?" asked Sarah.

"Oh you would not believe it Sarah. I have some of the most adorable photos I have to show you. His brain freezes up when he gets embarrassed."

"I'd love to see them," grinned Sarah throwing him a wink that she meant Ellie to catch. Which of course she did. Devon spotted the early warning signs of an Ellie squeal.

"I think I hear John calling me girls, Chuckster. Probably needs help with… stuff. I'm coming John." He left the room hurriedly. Chuck stared after his back as if it was the last lifeboat drifting away from the Titanic.

"Sarah told me what else you've been up to Chuck," said Ellie looking at the envelope in her hand.

"She did?" replied Chuck, now hopelessly at sea and wondering how did the two women at his bedside become best friends since he went to bed last night. He tried again to look as if he was at least following the conversation.

"Why didn't you tell me you were taking on line classes to finish your degree? This arrived this morning."

Chuck gave up that point trying to understand anything that was going on. He reached mechanically for the envelope that Ellie passed over to him. He reached into the envelope and pulled out a parchment. He could not believe what it was.

"My Bachelors in Computer Science. My degree."

"I'll leave you two alone together. Baby brother, I'm so proud of you," said Ellie pulling Chuck close in a patented Ellie hug. Which meant Chuck began to run out of air after about ten seconds.

"Can't breathe through hug of death. Sarah, save me," wheezed Chuck. Sarah however, was busy pretending to study Chuck's degree.

"Chuck, she's perfect," whispered Ellie into his ear. "I love her."

"Ellie, I'm think I'm beginning to see a white light and our dead relatives," replied Chuck who wasn't entirely joking.

Ellie disengaged from Chuck. "I'll see you two in a few minutes. John and Carina have invited us all over for breakfast at their place. Sarah, will you make sure he dresses himself properly. The man is a disaster otherwise."

"Ellie, I'm still here. And I am not."

"Don't worry Ellie. I got Chuck a new Justice League t-shirt that I'm dying to see him in."

Ellie gaped. "Please tell me you're joking." When Sarah just grinned and shrugged, Ellie rolled her eyes. "Oh my God, you're as bad as he is. I'm not sure you're a suitable woman for my brother to be hanging around with," said Ellie mock seriously.

"Why don't you go over to John and Carina Ellie? Chuck and I will be over shortly. After I dress him."

"Eeeew! Sarah, that's my brother. Too much information."

"What?! No! I just meant…." Whatever else Sarah was going to say died on her lips as she felt her face getting hot. Was she blushing, she thought to herself? Damn the Bartowskis, the CIA hadn't trained her to cope with people like them. She threw a glance in Chuck's direction who, if anything, looked even more embarrassed than she was. Ellie, naturally enough, noticed everything and felt like she'd burst from happiness. The two of them in her opinion, couldn't be more adorable. She decided to leave the room, but not before giving Chuck a surreptitious thumbs up gesture as she closed the bedroom door.

Neither of them said anything for a few moments. Sarah broke the silence first.

"So that's Ellie. She's really….something."

"That's putting it mildly. She practically raised me when our mother left us. Our dad was here, but he was never really 'here'. Then one day, he was going to make us pancakes. He left the house for eggs and he never came back. So it's been just the two of us since then."

Sarah felt bad for Chuck. Although he had a happy go lucky demeanour, she sensed a certain sadness in him, which sometimes broke through. She found that it got to her and she tried to take his mind of it, by passing over his Stanford degree. It didn't seem to work. If anything, Chuck looked more depressed.

"Well, thanks for my fake degree in computer in computer science," Chuck muttered.

"What do you mean?"

"I get it Sarah. You know, you had one of your CIA pal's doctor it up to get Ellie off my back," he said bitterly

"It's real, Chuck."

"Come on," replied Chuck impatiently.

"I'm serious. You graduated."

"What about my last 12 credits?"

"Well, Casey Carina and I decided that your exceptional field service ought to count for something. Our bosses agreed and made representations on your behalf to their contacts in Stanford."

"And by exceptional, you mean, like, oh, I don't know, destroying a previously secure operating system that was supposed to be immune to computer viruses?"

"Computer Science, Chuck."

"Or running towards potentially exploding laptops connected to a homemade bomb?"

"Physical Education. You earned it, Chuck. I've seen you in action. You could do anything you wanted to do."

That worked. She saw the smile that she was growing to love make a re-appearance. "Thank you Sarah. That means a lot, coming from you." Please let her take that the right way, he thought.

To Chuck's relief, Sarah did. "Back at you Bartowski. Come on, get dressed. They're going to be waiting for us. Casey seems t have taken a real shine to Devon. They were swapping army stories all night."

"Devon's time in the army and the injuries he saw some of his army buddies with made him change his original specialty from Cardiology to Trauma surgeon. He felt he'd make more of a difference to people's lives."

Sarah pondered that for a moment. "For lack of a better word, that's pretty awesome."

"Part and parcel of the patented Bartowski and Woodcomb charm Sarah. No one is immune. Not even Bryce Larkin could defend himself. Oh God, Bryce!"

Chuck couldn't help himself. All of a sudden, he brought his hands to his face and let out a series of heart wrenching sobs. Sarah cursed herself for forgetting, that with everything Chuck had been through previously and his time in Washington, that Chuck hadn't a chance to come to terms with Bryce's death. She pulled him close as if he was a child and tried to be there for him. She had experienced the death of partners and fellow agents on missions, but they were trained to be stoic about it, as the mission was priority. Her last unrestrained crying was when her own mother died in circumstances she kept meaning to get to the bottom off. She wondered would anyone cry for her the way this man did for his friend. Would her own funeral would be attended only by fellow agents who weren't on missions?

She noticed Ellie had come back into the room and was watching them with tears in her own eyes. She shook her head when Sarah signalled that she was going to leave. He needs you, Ellie mouthed, pointing at Sarah for emphasis. When Devon stuck his head in, he sized up what was happening and led a weeping Ellie out, leaving the two of them alone again.

"Chuck it's okay. I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. Ever." If he keeps this up, he thought, I'm going to break down myself. She could feel her own eyes stinging trying to keep her own tears at bay. She had never known Larkin, but felt he must have been quite somebody to elicit such strong emotions in Chuck.

"He saved me you know," said Chuck who was beginning to regain control of himself.

"What do you mean Chuck?"

"At Stanford. He saved me." he replied, rubbing his eyes.

Sarah didn't want to push Chuck for an explanation as he seemed too vulnerable to explain himself. "Chuck, Bryce's funeral service is this morning. I was going to bring you, but you don't have to go if you don't feel strong enough."

"I'll go. As long as you're with me, I'll be strong enough. Before you came into my life Sarah, I was repairing computers for 12.50 an hour. With you, I feel I can do anything."

Chuck tried to smile at Sarah to re-assure her. It was the most heart breaking sight she had ever seen and she felt if she remained any longer, that she would break down herself. If it wasn't for her training, she would have done so already.

"Do you want to take a few minutes Chuck? I'll wait in the kitchen."

"You're aces Sarah." Chuck's smile, this time to her relief, was more genuine.

"Back at you Chuck."

After a few moments, Chuck cleared his throat. "Sarah, if I'm to get dressed, we'll have to break this hug soon."

"Don't want to," she pouted.

"Me neither. But later we can resume it again. Maybe a little more," he said giving her an eyebrow dance.

"Fancy your chances Bartowski?" replied Sarah, giving him a sultry look.

"Resistance is futile Walker. The Bartowski charm wears everyone down in time."

Oh God don't I know it, thought Sarah. Now she felt she had to leave the room for a different reason entirely. But at least he was coming around again. "I'll meet you in the kitchen Chuck."

"Okay I'll shower and dress and join you there."

When Sarah left, Chuck reached into his bed side locker and pulled out what Morgan and himself called a PANTS box. It was an acronym they came up with meaning Personal Artefacts Never To Share. He rummaged through it. It contained items like his mother's bracelet (the same one he broke all those years ago) and idly wondered would Sarah like it. But the item he was looking for was at the bottom amongst all the clutter. It was a photo of him and Bryce, taken by Jill when the future was full of possibilities for all of them. He was just back from a short visit to Ellie and it was taken the day before he was called up before the exam board and was expelled from Stanford.

But it was what he came across a month later when he went back to Stanford to try and appeal his expulsion that he still had trouble coming to terms with. He could handle Jill breaking up him and claiming she had been sleeping with Bryce. He had known that to be completely untrue as he was one of a very select handful that knew Bryce was gay. But if it hadn't been for the talk he had later with Bryce, he wouldn't be around at all to mourn for him.

~oOo~

_Stanford 5 years ago_

Chuck stood before the rented accommodation that Fleming used during the months he taught in Stanford. Fleming generally had an open house policy for students who were free to call on him anytime if they having trouble with their coursework. But Chuck was there to get Flemings backing for his re-instatement to Stanford. He had been too shocked to give a proper defence of himself to the exam committee that had expelled him from Stanford a month ago. But he hadn't been able to reach him by phone and his emails weren't answered. Finally he summoned up his courage and travel back to Stanford to talk to him in person. But as he walked up to the front door, he noticed it was ajar and that the lock was broken. That was when he heard the sounds of a struggle and something that sounded like firecrackers going off.

He was totally unprepared for he found next, as he rushed through the front door. Fleming was lying dead in the hallway with his shirt front covered in blood. Another man breathed his last on the stairway as he watched. He dropped the folder he was carrying with his appeal form inside in shock. Before he could freak out, he felt a hand grab his shoulder.

"Chuck, what the hell are you doing here?!"

Chuck replied with the first thing that popped into his head. "It wasn't me Bryce. I swear."

To Chuck's astonishment, Bryce laughed. "I know, you idiot. Look I'll get this sorted. But I've got to get you out of here."

"The police?" asked Chuck.

Bryce hesitated for a split second. "Yes, I've called them already and they're on their on the way. But you can't be seen here, it might raise awkward questions."

"Ok," replied Chuck numbly, looking at his last chance of appeal lying dead on the floor. He turned and left the house, never looking back. Bryce could see that Chuck had thrown the file he was bringing with him into a trash bin and keep walking. Once he was out of sight, he pulled out his phone and dialled the number he was given earlier.

"Sir, it's done. You can send a clean-up crew…. Okay…..If at possible, I'd like to be assigned to the California area….. Really! That's fantastic Sir….. Yes, I'm now a qualified accountant and have a cover worked out in merchant banking…. My pleasure Mr Montgomery, thanks for giving me that chance."

He pulled out another phone he'd received by special delivery that very morning. He dialled the one number it was programmed for. He got a response almost immediately.

"Hi Bryce."

"Hi Orion. It's done. Chuck nearly caught me in the act, but I managed to get away with it."

"Good. Much as I hate doing the CIA's job them in intelligence gathering after the way they treated my wife and I, it was worth it on this occasion to save Chuck from their clutches. Thank you Bryce. But I need you to keep an eye on him for the foreseeable future."

"It's no trouble at all. I'll never be able to repay you for all you've done for me. I've got myself assigned to the west coast, so I'll be able to see Chuck on a regular basis."

"Thanks Bryce. I'll be in touch."

Thirty minutes later, Bryce found Chuck at their usual bench. He had brought coffee and sandwiches and put them down on the bench between himself and Chuck.

"What's the fucking point in going on Bryce? My life is ruined. How am I going to tell Ellie?" demanded Chuck.

"Chuck. Don't even think like that. You'll come back from this."

"I can't. There's nothing left for me. I have parents that could be dead for all I know. My girlfriend that I was going to propose to when I'd got my degree, turns on me and believes the worst. And she claimed to have slept with you. Did you know that?"

"I'd heard," muttered Bryce. "I'm sorry now I ever introduced you to her. She didn't deserve you."

"This was my last opportunity. Now I'll probably be working at a fucking Buymore or Large Mart for the rest of my life. It's too much. I can't take this anymore. The next bus I see, I'm going to throw myself under it!"

This is going to take all my training, thought Bryce. "Look Chuck, think of the heartbreak you'll leave behind. Could you imagine what this would do to Ellie and her boyfriend? Devon is it?

"Captain fucking Awesome himself," replied Chuck with a bitter smile.

"There's no harm in the man. He really is head over heels in love with her. And he's quite fond of you as well. Don't forget the furry little Hobbit either."

"Morgan," replied Chuck with a happier smile this time.

"Yeah, your brother from another mother. And speaking of brothers, Chuck. You're like the one I never had. My parents died when I was young and I had no living relatives. Only for the fact that there was people kind enough to look out for me at various stages of my life, meant I even got to Stanford. I would have never got through here without you. So I owe you. And you better stay around for me to pay that debt or I'm going to be really pissed."

Chuck was silent. Eventually he managed to respond. "Thanks Bryce."

"No problem. Now that's enough lady feelings for today. Eat your lunch."

"Turkey, Muenster cheese, egg bread, grilled?" said Chuck eagerly.

"What else? God knows where you put it all. Do you have hollow legs or something?

"Love you too Larkin."

"If I told you once, I told you a million times Bartowski. Lanky string-beans are not my type. Get over me already."

They sat in companionable silence for the next few minutes before Chuck spoke up again. "Did you sort out everything with the police?"

"Yeah, I think they're treating it as a murder suicide. Probably the last we'll hear of it." Quickly changing the subject Bryce added, "I got a job offer in California. One of the big boys."

"That's great! We'll still be able to see each other."

"I'm counting on it Chuck. Listen, do you want me to go with you to Burbank when you tell Ellie?

"Would you?" asked Chuck hopefully.

"No problem. Come on, let's get you home."

~oOo~

Sarah gave Chuck about 20 minutes before she decided to see what was holding him up. "Chuck are you okay in there?" she asked through the door.

"Sure Sarah. Come on in."

Sarah looked cautiously around the corner of the door. She noted that Chuck was dressed in a suit and shirt, but seemed to be having some trouble with his tie. She immediately crossed the room, straightened it out and stood back to check it.

"Good?" asked Chuck.

"Yeah, you clean up pretty well. Are you ready for this Chuck?"

"I'm ready," he smiled.

_A/N 23.12.2013 Thank for reading this far and giving this story a chance. This is the first part of a series of Chuck stories that I'll set in this particular universe. I'm laying out a longer story for the second one and as soon as I have the first four chapters complete, I'll start uploading them on a weekly basis. So the first chapter should be ready from the end of January and a new one every week thereafter._

_Happy Christmas to all of you and a happy new year. I am grateful to everyone that reviewed particularly uplink2, bigfan22, wilf21 and ayleaa. Their words of encouragement and/or helpful pointers always seemed to arrive at the right time. You guys are awesome_


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